Govt has abandoned its duty towards farmers in Budget 2023: SKM
Darpan News Desk IANS, 01 Feb, 2023 01:40 PM
New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS) Farmers' body Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Wednesday expressed shock and bewilderment at the Union Budget 2023.
"While it is universally known that farming and farmers have been economically neglected by the BJP-led Union Government, the SKM had expected that after the sustained and determined protest of the farmers at Delhi, the party in power would appreciate the importance of the farm sector and the need to secure income and future of the rural farming community, who form the bulk of India's population. Instead, the Union Budget 2023 is the most anti-farmer budget," it said in a statement
It said that the allocation on agriculture and allied sectors has been reduced from 3.84 per cent (BE 2022) to 3.20 per cent (BE 2023) of the total budget and the allocation on rural development has also been reduced from 5.81 per cent (RE 2022) to 5.29 per cent (BE 2023) of the total budget.
"With such massive reductions, the intent of the government is clear: to squeeze out the lifeblood from farming sector and thereby the farmers of India. Union Budget 2023 also hides more than it reveals but the truth is glaring and cannot be camouflaged. Union Budget 2023 is silent on doubling farmers Income. There were no figures given in the Budget," it added.
SKM said that Union Budget 2023 is silent on the status of minimum support price (MSP) on crops as per recommendation of M.S. Swaminathan Commission and what shall be done to ensure that farmers get legal guarantee of MSP.
"While the government has irrationally resisted the demands of farmers for MSP and its guarantee, this Budget has removed even the fig-leaf with which the govt was trying to cover its meagre efforts to ensure that farmers get MSP. Flagship schemes like PM-Asha have seen a steady decline in allocation," it said.
The farmers' body claimed that the Price Support Scheme (PSS) and MIS (Market Intervention Scheme) was reduced from Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 1,500 crore in 2022 and this year it is an unimaginable Rs 10 lakh. "In effect, the govt has buried ASHA, PSS and MIS and with that the fate of farmers getting MSP has been buried."
About PM Fasal Bima Yojna, the SKM said that in 2022, the allocation was Rs 15,500 crore but this year it has been reduced to Rs.13,625 crore.
"The government is drastically hacking the allocation for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) that provides critical income support to rural workers. In 2022, the budget allocation was Rs 73,000 crore but in the face of rural joblessness and restless demand, the government was forced to spend Rs 90,000 crore. Since the general economy and especially the rural economy is still in deep crisis, it is unbelievable that the government has hacked down the allocation of MNREGS to Rs 60,000 crore, a dramatic cut of Rs 30,000 crore," it said.
SKM claimed that the Government is grandly announcing new funds like Agriculture Accelerator Fund even as earlier announcements have been forgotten and lost. "It may be recalled that the government had announced with much fanfare the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund of Rs 1 lakh crore; after 3 years it was found that only 10 per cent of this fund had been actually disbursed," it claimed.
"SKM demands that the government stops fooling farmers and seriously focuses on resolving the critical issues of farmers like legal guarantee of MSP, crop insurance, reduction of input costs and steady availability of inputs," it added.
According to the BSF, around 5.15 a.m. an alert BSF team comprising Head Constable (HC) Gyan Singh and Constable Raju Biswas of 89 Battalion observed suspicious movement of miscreants, suspected to be smugglers both across the International Border as well as inside the Indian territory between the Border Outpost No. 33/06 and 33/07 in the cover of dense fog.
In an apparent embarrassment for Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, his 'elder sister' Suman Tur on Friday described him a 'cruel' for deserting her elderly mother after father's death with an intention to 'grab family property'. She told the media here that Sidhu had abandoned her mother and she passed away on a railway station in 1989.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Friday demanded transfer of state intelligence officials, including the top brass, who face charges of compromising the security of Punjab and indulging in electoral malpractices to provide "illegal, illegitimate and immoral" help to the ruling Congress.
Due to incessant rains and water logging of fields owing to overflow of nearby natural drains during September-October 2021 in Delhi, crops of farmers have been severely damaged, the Delhi government said in a release, adding that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had taken cognisance of the matter and assessed that a relief package for crop damage was necessary to be provided.
The SKM also reiterated that the name, banner or platform of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha will not be used by any political party or candidate in the run-up to the Assembly polls in Punjab, scheduled on February 20.
Appearing for the Punjab government, Senior Advocate P. Chidambaram argued that Majithia has gone into hiding after the rejection of his bail plea in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and now he is appearing through counsel.
