Empty Budget : Farmers Unions Allege Centre Gave Least Priority to Agriculture
The share of agriculture and allied activities in the total budget fell from 5.1% last year to 4.3%.
Swaraj India President Yogendra Yadav at Ghazipur border in New Delhi, Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. Photo: PTI
Economy01/Feb/2021
Mohali: The unions which have been at the forefront of the farmersâ struggle against agri-marketing reforms for the last six months have expressed disappointment over the Union budget for agriculture presented today.
In a pre-budget and post-budget analysis, farmersâ leaders Yogendra Yadav, Avik Saha, Kavita Kuruganthi, Kiran Vissa and other agricultural experts said that the Union budget presented on Monday âhas proved the farmersâ apprehensions right â that this government is on a path of withdrawing support to agriculture, not strengthening it.â
NEW DELHI: Farmers’ unions agitating for repeal of central farm laws on Monday announced national-wide road blockade on state and national highways for three hours (12-3 PM) on February 6 even as agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the Budget cleared all doubts over contentious issues relating to the legislations and appealed to farmer leaders to think about it positively.
Flagging the Budget announcement, Tomar said the budgetary proposals reflected the government’s commitment towards APMC ‘mandis’ and minimum support price (MSP) provisions which must now clear the doubts, whatsoever, over the farm laws.
He referred to the Budget announcement where the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed giving APMCs ‘mandis’ the access of the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund so that these state-regulated Agri markets could be modernized through infrastructure creation. The finance minister during her budget speech also spoke on how the procurement of crops at MSP
Farmers fear losing out to big corporations if private traders get a free-run in deregulated markets. The government says the changes will give farmers greater market access and spur investments | Latest News India
Tomar, along with Union railway minister Piyush Goyal, said the government was open to further negotiations with the farm leaders to find a solution. | Latest News India
India News: A day after farmers' representatives rejected its proposals, the Centre on Thursday once again appealed to them to consider it saying the government i