Spotlight
New Delhi, 4 March 2016
Rural
Sector & Budget
PAVING
WAY FOR REJUVENATION
By D.
Mukherjee
It is difficult to believe that such
a commendable budget has been presented by Arun Jaitley with the right emphasis
on agriculture and rural development. Keeping in view that majority of the
population lives in rural areas and that the infrastructure there needs huge
resources, the Budget is indeed focussed.
One is reminded of well-known
economist Prof Michael Lipton, who two decades ago had said there was a trend
in Third World countries to subsidize the
urban middle class at the cost of the rural poor. In India, as also in many other
developing countries, the trend is to maximize growth by ignoring agriculture
and rural development and emulating the Western models of development.
Undoubtedly, this is a wrong strategy as the country has high potential in food
processing and agro-based industry as well as employment potential is too
comparatively high.
Somewhat in the same tenor, late
Mahbub-ul-Haque, creator of the Human Development Report and former finance
minister of Pakistan
had rightly pointed: “The basic concept of development is not too much GNP
levels, important though that is, but to create an enabling environment in
which people can enjoy long, healthy and creative lives”.
Keeping in view the above
propositions, there has been a perceptive change in the priorities of the
Budget, which is quite rare in recent years. The four-pronged strategy to
achieve growth has been rightly centred on: agriculture, rural infrastructure
employment, health and skill creation and employment.
This Budget has given special thrust
to irrigation with 89 irrigation projects under Accelerated Irrigation Benefits
Programme (AIBP) covering 80.9 lakh hectares. For the next five years, Rs
86,500 crores under this head has been earmarked and this financial year the
amount disbursed is Rs 17,000 crores. Therefore, by 2016-17 about 23 of these
projects are expected to be completed.
Moreover, 28.5 lakh hectares will be
brought under the PM’s Krishi Sichai Yojana through mission mode and this
should bring cheer to the farming community. Over and above this, a dedicated
Long Term Irrigation Fund in NABARD with an initial corpus of Rs 20,000 crores
would be created. So far, it is indeed distressing to note that only 46 per
cent of the cultivable land has been brought under irrigation, which doesn’t
speak well of earlier attempts made by past Governments.
Keeping into consideration the
impending water crisis, sustainable groundwater management, recharging of
resources has been proposed with an estimated expenditure of Rs 6,000 crores.
Clearly, the lack of water in the agriculture sector has affected production of
various crops and the crisis in the sector deepened with drought in the past
two years.
In such a scenario, the recharging
of groundwater resources would go a long way in retrieving lost ground.
Simultaneously, more experimentation would be needed by scientists to continue
their efforts to develop water-efficient and drought-tolerant varieties as the
President had pointed out some time ago.
To boost up crop yields in rain-fed
areas, organic farming has also been accorded priority in the budget and 5 lakh
hectares is expected to be brought under Parmparagat
Krishi Vikas Yojana in three years. Similarly, another scheme Organic Value Chain Development has been
launched. As organic products are much in demand, the
products would help find ready acceptance both in domestic and export markets.
Another significant area has been
soil health for which a card scheme would be implemented “with great vigour” to
educate the farmers about the nutrient level of the soil. This would cover all
14 crore farm holdings by March 2017 and Rs 368 crores has been provided for
the National Project on Soil Health & Fertility.
Crop insurance has been the
brainchild of Prime Minister Modi and accordingly an e-platform would be
launched next month to ensure farmers’ welfare. Accordingly, the Finance
Minister has earmarked an outlay of Rs 5500 crores under the PM Fasal Bima Yojana for the coming year
where the premium would be nominal and highest ever compensation would be given
for crop loss.
The total outlay on agriculture and
farmers’ welfare has been around Rs 36,000 crores with a target to increase
crop yield in rain-fed areas and increase agricultural credit form Rs 8.5 lakh
crores in the past year to Rs nine lakh crores in 2016-17. The total outlay is
substantially higher. Moreover, to reduce loan repayment of farmers, a
provision of Rs 15,000 crores has been made in the current year towards
subvention.
What Modi announced on February 28,
was reiterated by Jaitley in his Budget that efforts would be geared up to
boost the agricultural sector and double the income of the farming community in
the next five years. Though there has been criticism about the announcement,
the very intention needs to be applauded as it shows the Government’s concern.
Obviously, doubling incomes in five years implies an average growth of 14.9 per
cent a year which may be quite difficult to achieve but even then 50 to 75 per
cent rise may be expected.
Coming to rural infrastructure, 100
per cent rural electrification that Jaitley proposes shall be achieved by end
April 2018 would definitely help achieve a turnaround of the villages. The
fact, that 5542 villages were electrified, which is more than the combined
achievement of previous three years, brings confidence about the Government’s
ability. However, though the target set may be difficult to achieve in the
practical sense, even if 90 per cent villages are properly electrified, the
benefits would indeed be immense.
In addition, the thrust on rural
roads by earmarking Rs 19,000 crores under Pradhan
Mantri Gran Sadak Yojana is significant. In fact, the total budgetary
allocation for roads and highways has been increased to Rs 55,000 crores and
the total allocation, including PMGSY, comes to around Rs 97,000 crores. Both
rural roads and electrification would go a long way in developing the
countryside and transforming the villages.
Added to this list is the rural job
scheme, MNREGA which has been earmarked Rs 38,500 crores compared with Rs
34,699 crores last year. Though the scheme is of the UPA government, the fact
that Rs 4000 crore has been added shows that this Government attaches
importance. And if the entire amount is
utilized this year-- there is every possibility-- it would be the highest sum
spent in a year, according to Jaitley. Moreover, the assets created would serve
the twin purpose of rural economic development and job creation.
Similarly, the setting up of 300
Rurban Clusters under the Shyama Prasad
Mukherjee Rural Mission and the strengthening of the Krishi Vigyan Kendras are steps in the right direction.
This sets at rest the criticisms
that are being heard that the NDA government was pro-urban and not geared
towards the farmers’ interests. The Finance Minister’s concern for rural
development and also the farming community has been clearly reflected in the
Budget after quite a long time, which indeed augurs well for the poor and
deprived sections of society. Whether rural distress would be overcome
remains to be seen, but undeniably a lot would depend on efficient implementation
of the projects and delivery of services. ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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