With little allocation for agriculture, budget sends a worrying signal | The Indian Express

With little allocation for agriculture, budget sends a worrying signal | The Indian Express

Written by Ashok Gulati |Updated: July 6, 2019 9:35:13 am

The writer is chair professor for agriculture at ICRIER. Views are personal

With little allocation for agriculture, budget sends a worrying signal

One notable thing was the absence of emphasis on doubling farmers’ real incomes by 2022. Perhaps the reality that this is an uphill task has dawned on the government — it may not achieve even half the target.

Union Minister for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman, MoS Anurag Thakur leave the Finance Ministry office to present the Budget in Parliament. (Express Photo: Renuka Puri)

In her first budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reminded us of the famous quote from M K Gandhi, that the “soul of India lives in villages”. She also said that for Gramin Bharat, her focus is on “gaon, garib, and kisan”. She spelt out certain schemes but the overall focus was on strengthening infrastructure such as through the PM’s Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), making annadatas also urjadatas (converting farmers into producers of solar power), strengthening e-NAM, focusing on fisheries through the Matsya Sampada Yojana, etc.