Most of flagship schemes see a huge cut in funds
New Delhi: Going by the “big digital push” picture “depicted” in the Union Budget 2023-24 for the agriculture sector, it appears that the farm sector is still on a high-priority list of the government, which is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But, after analysing the fund allocations under the heads of different schemes of the Agriculture Ministry, it shows that the farm sector has been ignored as Budget allocations for most of the flagship schemes of the ministry have been drastically slashed.
As per the papers of Union Budget-2023-24, which was presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament on Wednesday, the overall allocation for the Department for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare has been pegged at Rs 1,15,531 crore against the Budget allocation of Rs 1,24,000 for the financial year 2022-23.
So, the overall Budget allocation of the agriculture ministry has been reduced by about Rs 8,469 crore. The allocation for the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, which was projected as a gamechanger for the agriculture sector, has been decreased from Rs 15,500 crore to Rs 13,625 crore in this Budget, which accounts to 12 percent reduction.
As per experts, the reduction in Budget allocation for PM Fasal Bima Yojna indicates that the scheme has lost its sheen as most of the states, including Gujarat, have withdrawn themselves from the scheme. The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) saw an allocation of Rs 60,000 crore that recorded a decrease of Rs 8,000 crore in
comparison to Rs 68,000 crore allocations for the scheme in the last Budget.
In a validation to several remarks made by the PM regarding promotion of research in agriculture, the allocation for the Department of Agricultural Research and Education has been increased by about Rs 1,000 crore. It indicates the government push towards innovation in agriculture to increase the yield of crops. The Budget allocations for the Market Intervention Scheme and Price Support Scheme has been completely wiped out as the scheme has got an allocation of just Rs 1 crore for 2023-24 against the Rs 1,500 crore allocations in the last Budget while the allocation of jus Rs 1 lakh for Prime Minister Farmer Income Protection Scheme (PM-AASHA) has put all the fate of the umbrella scheme launched in 2018 to ensure a minimum support price has left in the limbo as the allocation has been drastically reduced from Rs 1 crore in the last Budget to just Rs 1 lakh in this Budget.
The allocation for Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna has been reduced by 31 per cent from Rs 10,433 crore in 2022-23 to Rs 7,150 crore in this Budget and there is slight reduction of 2 per cent in the Budget allocations for Krishionnati Yojana as the scheme has got Rs 7,066 crore in this Budget against the allocation of Rs 7,183 crore in the last Budget.
The Finance Minister has increased the Budget allocations for the formation and promotion of 10,000 farmer producer organisations by Rs 455 crore in this Budget.
In the Budget, the Finance Minister has also announced some new measures for the agriculture sector, including an increase in the credit target to Rs 20 lakh crore, with focus on animal husbandry,
dairy and fisheries, a digital public infrastructure for agriculture and Agriculture Accelerator Fund.
