Finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar (right) and Deepak Kesarkar, state minister for finance, arrive at Vidhan Bhavan to present the Maharashtra State Budget 2016 on Friday. (Photo: Shripad Naik)
Maharashtra finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar on Friday presented an agriculture and farmer-centric budget on the lines of the Union Budget. While presenting a deficit budget for 2016-17, Mr Mungantiwar proposed substantial allocation of over Rs 25,000 crore for various schemes for agriculture, agro-allied and irrigation sectors. He announced that the year 2016 will be observed as “Shetkari Swabhiman Varsha” or “Year of Farmers’ Self Respect”. Meanwhile, the size of the annual plan has increased to Rs 56,997 crore from the previous year’s Rs 54,999 crore.
Taking note of drought conditions in the state, Mr Mungantiwar made substantial allocations for 26 out of 58 schemes and programmes. During his budget speech, the minister said that farmers were the backbone of the rural economy. “Self-dependent farmers and prosperous villages constitute the foundation of ‘Make in India’. Hence, not only survival but also prosperity of our farmers is undoubtedly essential for strengthening and empowering the state’s economy,” he said. He added that considering these facts, he had formulated this budget by making substantial provision for the agricultural sector so as to accelerate its growth.
Mr Mungantiwar made an allocation of Rs 3360.35 crore to assist farmers hit by drought and other natural calamities. The state proposed allocation of Rs 1855 crore as its share towards the farmers’ insurance scheme. An outlay of Rs 1,000 crore has been proposed for the Jal Yukt Shivir Scheme. Last year, Rs 1600 crore was made available for this scheme through which, 130,000 water conservation works have been completed in more than 5,000 villages. Mr Mungantiwar said that with the objective of providing protective irrigation through farm ponds, irrigation wells and energisation of water-lifting devices during water scarcity, a total outlay of Rs 2000 crore had been proposed under the “Farm Pond on Demand” scheme in budget.
An outlay of Rs 110 crore has been made for Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Loan Concession scheme.
Since the United Nations Organisation (UNO) has declared this year as the “International Year of Pulses”, the state has allocated Rs 80 crore for increasing oil seeds and pulses production. An allocation of Rs 50 crore is proposed for cold storage and the food processing industry. An allocation of Rs 1,855 crore has been made for Crop Insurance Scheme, while an allocation of Rs 62 crore has been made for the Decentralised Food grain Purchase scheme.
An allocation of Rs 112 crore has been made for the Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Tribal Nutritious Diet scheme. In addition to this, Rs 170 crore has been allocated for the National Rural Drinking Water scheme. So also, an allocation of Rs 3,473 crore has been made for the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNEGS).
Mr Mungantiwar proposed the “Krushi Gurukul Yojana” scheme in which farmers honoured with ‘Adarsh Shetakari Puraskar’ would share their experiments with other farmers in each district. The Finance Minister also announced that an “Agricultural festival” would be organised in each district to motivate the farmers’ society, create awareness about government efforts towards agriculture etc. Mr Mungantiwar announced the new scheme, “Govardhan Govansh Raksha Kendra” to be established in 34 rural districts for rearing of non-lactating and unproductive cattle breed with participation of NGOs. He said that a one-time grant of one crore will be provided for the project.
The CM, while congratulating Mr Mungantiwar, said that despite economic challenges, Mr Mungantiwar had presented a pro-farmer and inclusive budget. He further stated that the budget had concrete provisions for drought relief measures. However, NCP’s group leader, Jayant Patil, termed the budget as directionless. He said that the budget had cheated farmers, farm labourers and industrialists.
Meanwhile, the size of the annual plan has been proposed as Rs 56,997 crore . “An outlay of Rs 6725.64 crore is proposed for the Scheduled Caste Sub Plan in proportion to the population of SC, which is 11.8 per cent,” said Mr Mungantiwar. Rs 5,357.71 has been proposed for Tribal Sub Plan in proportion (9.4 per cent) to its population. While, outlay proposed for District Plan Scheme is Rs 7,562.2 crore, he added.
