Budget allocation is biggest onslaught on Indian agriculture ever, says Swaraj Abhiyan's Yogendra Yadav

Yogendra Yadav, president of Swaraj Abhiyan, on Saturday said union budget allocation is the biggest onslaught on Indian agriculture ever.

Yadav said, "I would have really appreciated if the budget had even mentioned a figure. It's a six-year promise. The government promised to double the farmer’s income, namely raise it by 100 percent within six years. Four years completed today. I would have appreciated if the finance minister just told me that so far we have done 60 percent, so far we have done 20 percent, not even a word on that and not just in the budget. Yesterday, the economic survey also does not mention one word about it. Is it because the figure is very embarrassing."

He further added, "Those 16 points interestingly do not touch upon any of the key requirements of the agriculture sector. The first is price realisation and how many farmers actually get the minimum support price (MSP), which is declared, not a word on that. Prime Minister Sinchayee Yojana, one of the biggest things not a word on that. PM Fasal Bima Yojana, not a word about changing that. All tiny little things without any allocation were mentioned."

"Over the years, we have seen there has been some divergence between the speech and what the allocations revealed. Today, I saw they go in absolutely opposite directions. At the end of the budget, I was slightly disappointed," he said.

Speaking about consumption revival, he said, "I don’t judge budgets by their intent, I judge by their allocations and by their specific policy measures. Unfortunately, I found a lot of very nice statements about intent. I didn’t learn much about economics. I wish I had learned a little more about economics in this budget. On the employment front, what is the new idea? Illegibility test but that is not a budget item. So, what is one thing that we have got today that would actually help employment in this country to increase employment? Skill India mission budget is exactly the same as last year."