SHIMLA : The Left organisations Himachal Kisan Sabha and CPIM termed the Union Budget 2022-23 presented today by the BJP Government as anti-farmers saying that allocation for the agriculture sector has been cut by Rs one lakh crore and so was the case with the MNREGA and other programmes.
In a joint statement issued here today on the budget, HKS president Dr Kuldip Singh Tanwar and CPM state secretary Dr Oncar Shad stated that the allocation was Rs.474750.47 crores in 2021-22 (Revised Estimates) which has now fallen to Rs.370303 crores- a shortfall of rupees one lakh crore. The share of rural development in the Budget has also fallen from 5.59 percent to 5.23 percent, they said.
Finance Minister has sought to create hype that 2.37 lakh crore is allocated for procurement of paddy and wheat in 2022-23. In fact, this is lesser than the allocation of 2.48 lakh crore made last year. The beneficiaries will also be drastically reduced to 1.63 crores from 1.97 crore last year. The farmers have been demanding expansion to all crops and widening of the reach, HKS stated.
The allocation for procurement to the FCI and under decentralised procurement Scheme has actually been reduced by a whopping 28 percent. Reduction in allocation and inflation will altogether result in a significant decline in procurement in 2022-23, they claimed.
Allocation of funds for fertiliser subsidy has been reduced by 25 percent. Coming as it does when already fertiliser prices are shooting up, this is going to have adverse impact on productivity.
The allocation for Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana which was Rs.16,000 crores in the last Budget has been reduced to Rs.15,500 crores. The allocation for PM-KISAN is 9 percent lesser than what was originally announced at its inception in 2019. The earlier claim that 14 crore farmer households would benefit has been scaled down to 12.5 crore households, they stated.
Under the PM Kisan, while Rs.6000 each given to beneficiary would require Rs.75000 crores, only Rs.68,000 crores has been allotted. Allocation for crop husbandry has been cut by Rs.26,000 crores (18%); allocation for food storage & warehousing by Rs.84,000 crores (28%), they claimed.
The Economic Survey had pointed out that the average monthly income per agricultural household is only Rs.10,218/-.However, the average income from cultivation per person in a day is merely Rs.27.
MGNREGA allocation has been cut- the revised estimates of 2021-22 was Rs.98, 000 crores but this budget has allocated Rs.73,000 crores. A recent study had estimated that for ensuring 100days/household under MGNREGA would require about Rs.2.64 lakh crore including for clearing arrears of around Rs.21,000 crores. Clearly, the poor agricultural labourers are not a priority for theBJP Government, the Left claimed.
