Farmers’ organizations disappointed with the Budget

Like every Union Budget, the 2022-23 edition has pleased some and disappointed others. Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), a farmers’ representative organization in India, and All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), the peasants’ wing of the Communist Party of India (CPI), clearly belong to the latter category.

BKU sees the Budget 2022-23 as a negative one for farming. Rakesh Tikait, the national spokesperson of BKU, says, “The Budget will not benefit the farmers but the corporate friends.” The BKU press note cites the example of oilseeds. It says, “You want to promote the production of oilseeds so that you may hand over the farming of (oil) palm to the corporate. Its farming is not fair from the environmental perspective and that of groundwater.”

Says Dharmendra Malik, the media in-charge of the BKU, “The budget for agriculture and allied sectors has been reduced from 4.26 per cent to 3.84 per cent.” BKU feels that the agricultural budget had never been thus ignored in the history of independent India — the allocations have been reduced for crop insurance scheme, PM-Aasha scheme for crop procurement and not burning paddy stubble; the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) has been diminished; and no relief has been given in GST rates on agricultural inputs like seeds, pesticides, implements including tractors, poultry feed etc.

BKU feels that the Budget is only big on jargon like “Amrit Mahotsav” and “GatiShakti”.  It opposes the anti-farmer thinking of the government and awards Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget a big zero.

AIKS terms the Budget “anti-poor” and “anti-farmer”. It feels the Budget “seems like an act of revenge on the successful united farmers’ movement.” Total allocation was Rs 4,74,750 crore in 2021-22 (RE), which has now fallen to Rs 3,70,303 crores by over a lakh crore, says AIKS.

While Finance Minister may have sought to create a hype that Rs 2.37 lakh crore is set aside for the procurement of paddy and wheat, AIKS points out that this is lesser than the allocation of 2.48 lakh crore made last year. Even the number of beneficiaries will reduce from 1.97 crore to 1.63 crore.

AIKS is disappointed that in times of pandemic when employment opportunities have shrunk, the allocation for MGNREGA has been actually cut. While the RE for 2021-22 was Rs 98,000 crore, this Budget has allocated only Rs 73,000 crore. A recent study had estimated that ensuring 100 days per household under MGNREGA would require about Rs 2.64 lakh crore, including for clearing arrears of around Rs 21,000 crore.