ANALYSIS/BUDGET
Budget Figures in `cr
Revised estimates (RE) for 2019-20/actual spending for previous years
means such as water-efficient crops. It plans to expand Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan scheme to aid 2 million farmers set up standalone solar pumps and help another 1.5 million farmers solarise their grid-connected pumps. Under the scheme 30 per cent of the amount is given by the Centre, 30 per cent by the state and 40 per cent by the farmer, of which 30 per cent can be sourced through bank loan. “This will further increase extraction of groundwater,” says Ghatak. “Farmers would show interest in producing electricity only if the government gives them better and timely payment for the electricity they supply to the grid,” says Siraj Hussain, former Union agriculture secretary.
Even the allocation for rainfed area development and climate change has been reduced from R250 crore to R202 crore. Under this, farmers get financial and other kinds of support, such as cheaper seeds, to practice integrated farming system like inter-cropping and rotational cropping. These methods enhance farm returns and mitigate the impacts of drought, flood and other extreme weather events.
With climate change, extreme weather events will only rise. Though the government has increased the allocation to the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana—a scheme launched in 2016 to secure farmers against natural calamities and crop loss—from R14,000 crore in 2019-20 to R15,695 crore for 2020-21, it remains to be seen whether the rise will be enough. In 2018-19, the government accepted claims worth R19,000 crore, shows agriculture ministry data, and in the kharif season of 2019-20, the government has received R18,000 crore of insurance claims, as per media reports.
The Centre has also decreased the funds for adaptation and climate action. The National Adaptation Fund gets R80 crore while the figure in 2019-20 was R100 crore. “Expenditure on agriculture, livelihood and rural development should have been oriented towards mitigating risks, which include climate change. But this has not happened,” says Kapil Subramanian, climate policy expert at Delhi-based non-profit Centre for Science and Environment.
Budget 2020 seems to have all the ingredients that will force farmers to quit agriculture in droves. Is this how the government plans to counter rural distress and double farmers’ income by 2022?
Budget Figures in `cr