Union Budget 2017: No loan waiver, farmers upset

New Delhi: Under fire for agrarian stress and alleged neglect of farmers, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech announced a record Rs 1.87 lakh crore allocation for rural, agriculture and allied sectors, which is 24% higher than the previous Budget.

In a major thrust to agriculture, Mr Jaitley announced a whopping Rs 1 lakh crore hike in the credit target for the next fiscal to Rs 10 lakh crore as part of the government’s efforts to double farm incomes in the next five years. But many farmers are upset with the government for not waiving off loans, with some referring to these measures as “clever window dressing”.

Mr Jaitley also noted that the agriculture sector is expected to grow at 4.1 per cent during the current fiscal on good monsoon. Sowing of both kharif and rabi crops has been higher. Allocation for new crop insurance scheme ‘Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana’, which was launched last year, has been increased to Rs 13,240 crore this fiscal from budgeted Rs 5,500 crore.

NGO Swaraj Abhiyan stated, “Farmers affected by two consecutive droughts, and other calamities like floods were hoping for a big revival package. The government gave nothing but crop insurance scheme, which has already failed to help them this year.”

The government has made “impossible claims” about Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY). No major allocation really made for dairy sector, it is just “clever window dressing,” it said in a statement.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was dismissive of the efforts of the government on agriculture, saying “There was nothing in the budget for farmers.” Since the past two years, the Congress is on a high-octane campaign highlighting the woes of the farmers. In the last session of Parliament, Mr Gandhi led a delegation of Congress leaders to meet the Prime Minister regarding farmers’ issues.

As part of the measures announced in the Budget, a dedicated micro-irrigation fund will be set up by the Nabard to achieve the goal of ‘Per Drop More Crop’. The initial corpus will be Rs 5,000 crore in this regard. It will also set up a dairy processing infrastructure fund with Rs 8,000 crore. Stating that dairy is an important source of additional income for farmers, he said the government will set up a dairy processing fund of Rs 8,000 crore over three years with initial corpus of Rs 2,000 crore. To boost productivity through testing of soil health, the government proposes to set up new mini labs in Krishi Vigyan Kendras and ensure 100 per cent coverage of all 648 of these centres. In addition, up to 1,000 mini-labs will be set by qualified local entrepreneurs, who can access a credit-linked subsidy.