New Delhi: It seems the budget has not gone down well with the farmer unions terming the Budget as ‘betrayal’ as it exposed the empty promises of the government on MSP and doubling of farmers’ income.
“This Budget is the govt's revenge on the struggling farmers and a call for the farmers to intensify the movement for MSP Guarantee Act,” said Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the umbrella body of farmer bodies that spearheaded the farmer agitation till last year.
In a press release, Samyukt Kisan Morcha said procurement of wheat and paddy at MSP has reduced from last year and the number of benefiting farmers has also fallen by 17 percent. The quantity procured fell by seven percent, the union said.
"There is no word on ensuring MSP for other crops and on MSP Guarantee," it added.
Crticising the Budget, Rakesh Tikait, who heads a faction of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) in Uttar Pradesh tweeted, “In today's budget, the Modi government has significantly reduced the budget of MSP from last year. The budget for procurement on MSP in 2021-22 was Rs 2.48 lakh crore which was reduced to Rs2.37 lakh crore in the Budget of 2022-23, also for procurement of paddy and wheat only. It seems that the government does not want to buy other crops on MSP."
The failure to hike PM-KISAN payouts, the slashing of the PM-ASHA scheme budget from Rs400 crore to Rs1 crore, and the low levels of disbursement from the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund were identified as key issues.
The Budget comes after the year-long farmer protest ended with several promises made by the Centre but the finance minister spent barely two and a half minutes on us in the entire speech, the leader said.
Swaraj India chief Yogendra Yadav also accused the government of being vengeful to farmers for their massive protests and punishing them in the budget.
"This government is humiliated and angry over their defeat and is punishing the farmers. Earlier budgets at least had some perfunctory dialogues and announcements for farmers, even if they didn't get any money. This budget has given them silence and sent a clear message that they can get lost," Yadav noted in a video released in his Twitter account.
Yadav said the government is keeping silent on several issues regarding farmers that are worrisome. "They have been saying we have an agriculture investment fund of Rs1 lakh crore but they have spent just Rs 2,500 crore so far. They had announced Rs6,000 per month under the PM Kisan scheme, which was reduced to Rs5,000 due to inflation. It was supposed to be increased. The crop insurance scheme has been dropped by all states, the number of beneficiaries has gone down," he said in a video posted on his Twitter account.
He also flagged the slashed budget allocation to the rural employment guarantee (NREGA) scheme at a time when states have dues of more than Rs15,000 crore, the decreased procurement under MSP, and a drop in the number of beneficiaries of schemes.
In Budget FY22, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced key measures for farmers such as promoting natural farming, new river linking projects for better irrigation, and Minimum Support Price (MSP) payments worth around Rs 2.37 lakh crore.
However, farmers say that the budget was disappointing and their core issues like MSP still remain unresolved despite their long protests and the earlier promises of the government.