The real income of farmers has been stagnant in recent times and is one among the many cause for farmer suicides. In this context, do you think the recent Union Budget put forwards sufficient measures to redeem the situation?
Refer – The Indian Express
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 6 years
KEY POINTS
· As per the Economic Survey 2017-18, real incomes of farmers have been stagnant.
· The government’s resolve to double farmers’ income, and increase production was reasserted in this year’s budget.
Key measures to redeem the situation
· Assurance of purchase of all crops for which MSP is declared is a positive step.
· In a major relief to farmers, minimum support price (MSP) for all upcoming Kharif crops has been raised to 1.5 times the cost of production.
· The Agri-Market Infrastructure Fund, with a corpus of Rs 2,000 crore, is to be set up for developing and upgrading agricultural marketing infrastructure.
· This will enable farmers in remote locations who are devoid of any institutional mechanism to connect to markets.
· ‘‘Operation Green’’ on the lines of ‘‘Operation Flood’’ to tackle the volatility of tomato, onion and potato prices is a positive development.
· Kisan credit cards has been extended to finance the infrastructure requirements of fisheries, aquaculture and animal husbandry with a fund of Rs 10,000 crore will generate rural employment and supplement farmer incomes.
· Also, Rs 11 lakh crore credit for the farm sector has been proposed and allocation for Food Processing Ministry has been doubled.
· A restructured “National Bamboo Mission” with corpus of Rs 1,290 crore to boost bamboo cultivation has been provided for.
· The intent to mitigate the air pollution woes of Delhi-NCR by subsidising the machinery required for in-situ management of crop residue has now been addressed.
· A special scheme has been proposed to manage crop residue and contain winter smog in the northern plains around Delhi.
· Emphasis has been given to organic farming. The focus on horticulture clusters and converting cattle dung and solid waste in farms to compost, fertiliser, biogas and bio-CNG is also commendable.
· The flagship National Health Protection Scheme to cover over 50 crore poor and vulnerable beneficiaries providing coverage up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year for hospitalisation is also a laudable step.
