Agriculture gets 3.5% for 55% farmer population of India, no mention of farm workers: NAPM on Union budget

By A Representative
In a sharp critique of the claim that Narendra Modi government's 2016-17 budget is “pro-farmer”, the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) has said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has allocated less than 3.5% to agriculture, when 55% of India’s population depends on agriculture, which is grossly insufficient particularly when farmers are facing drought.
One of India’s biggest apex bodies of mass organizations, NAPM in a statement said, most of the budget speech projects as if big favours have been made to the farming community. “However the outlay of Rs 35,984 crore in reality it is a pittance. In 2014-15, the outlay was Rs 31,000 crore, which was drastically reduced to Rs 24,910 crores in 2015-16.”
Pointing out that a almost 40-50% to farmers are reeling under drought, and thousands of farmers are committing suicide due to indebtedness, NAPM said, it was expected from the government to come up with “a major bailout package” which included “interest waiver, debt swapping of private loans with bank loans, and disaster compensation.”
“The Budget speech promises ‘income security’ to farming families, but no mechanism has been announced to ensure this”, NAPM said, adding, “Farmers’ organizations had called for a statutory, permanent farmers' income commission and a farmers' income guarantee law to assure the minimum living income to farming households.”
Then, NAPM said, there is “no allocation to ensure remunerative prices to farmers, in terms of higher minimum support price (MSP|, market intervention scheme or market stabilization fund”, NAPM said, adding, “While farmers demanded a disaster compensation of Rs 10,000 per acre, no increase was announced from the current levels of Rs 3000-4000 per acre.”
“While tenant farmers and sharecroppers are excluded from bank loans, insurance and subsidies, no measures were announced for their inclusion. There was no mention of landless farmers in the entire speech by Jaitley. Nor have any special measures have been announced for rainfed agriculture, which faces the brunt of the crisis”, NAPM said.
“The flagship crop insurance programme, Prime Minister Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) is being projected as a panacea to farmers, and that more than 50% of the farmers will be brought under insurance cover from the current level of less than 20%”, NAPM said.
However, it underlined, “The allocation for insurance has been raised from Rs 2,600 crore to Rs 5,500 crore, but this would not cover any additional farmers, because this would only go to the insurance companies towards higher premium subsidy for the existing insured farmers.”
It further said, the money would also go to the “IT companies for surveying the crop failure and other natural calamities to claim the insurance money, hence keeping out the gram panchayats in determining these facts at local level.”
“The target of bringing additional 28.5 lakh hectares under irrigation in 5 years is to be welcomed – but this amounts to less than 2% of the net cultivated area of 141 million hectares”, NAPM said, adding, “The allocation from the Centre is only Rs 12,000 crore towards the Prime Minister Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY)”, while in 2014-15, it was Rs 13,492 crore but spending was a mere Rs 5,630 crore.
“Even after allocation and success of projects, the benefits have always remain in question, as in past, the projects started for catering to the needs of irrigation converted for the industrial demand of water supply. It has been seen in the famous Sardar Sarovar Dam Project, where after 30 years, 6 lakh hectares is decommissioned from irrigation to industries when less than 20% of the target of irrigation is realised at ground”, NAPM said.
As the claim that the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) has received a major boost, NAPM said, “When 40% of the nation is reeling under drought, a much higher allocation was expected to the tune of Rs 60,000 crores. The actual allocation is only Rs. 38,500 crore – which appears high only because of the drastic cuts in the past two years. This only brings it to the level of 2011-12 when the allocation was Rs. 39,000 crores.”

Comments

Gujarat Information Commission issues warning against misinterpretation of RTI orders

By A Representative The Gujarat Information Commission (GIC) has issued a press note clarifying that its orders limiting the number of Right to Information (RTI) applications for certain individuals apply only to those specific applicants. The GIC has warned that it will take disciplinary action against any public officials who misinterpret these orders to deny information to other citizens. The press note, signed by GIC Secretary Jaideep Dwivedi, states that the Right to Information Act, 2005, is a powerful tool for promoting transparency and accountability in public administration. However, the commission has observed that some applicants are misusing the act by filing an excessive number of applications, which disproportionately consumes the time and resources of Public Information Officers (PIOs), First Appellate Authorities (FAAs), and the commission itself. This misuse can cause delays for genuine applicants seeking justice. In response to this issue, and in acc...

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

'MGNREGA crisis deepening': NSM demands fair wages and end to digital exclusions

By A Representative The NREGA Sangharsh Morcha (NSM), a coalition of independent unions of MGNREGA workers, has warned that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is facing a “severe crisis” due to persistent neglect and restrictive measures imposed by the Union Government.

Gandhiji quoted as saying his anti-untouchability view has little space for inter-dining with "lower" castes

By A Representative A senior activist close to Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar has defended top Booker prize winning novelist Arundhati Roy’s controversial utterance on Gandhiji that “his doctrine of nonviolence was based on an acceptance of the most brutal social hierarchy the world has ever known, the caste system.” Surprised at the police seeking video footage and transcript of Roy’s Mahatma Ayyankali memorial lecture at the Kerala University on July 17, Nandini K Oza in a recent blog quotes from available sources to “prove” that Gandhiji indeed believed in “removal of untouchability within the caste system.”

Targeted eviction of Bengali-speaking Muslims across Assam districts alleged

By A Representative A delegation led by prominent academic and civil rights leader Sandeep Pandey visited three districts in Assam—Goalpara, Dhubri, and Lakhimpur—between 2 and 4 September 2025 to meet families affected by recent demolitions and evictions. The delegation reported widespread displacement of Bengali-speaking Muslim communities, many of whom possess valid citizenship documents including Aadhaar, voter ID, ration cards, PAN cards, and NRC certification.

'Centre criminally negligent': SKM demands national disaster declaration in flood-hit states

By A Representative The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) has urged the Centre to immediately declare the recent floods and landslides in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, and Haryana as a national disaster, warning that the delay in doing so has deepened the suffering of the affected population.

Saffron Kingdom – a cinematic counter-narrative to The Kashmir Files

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* “Saffron Kingdom” is a film produced in the United States by members of the Kashmiri diaspora, positioned as a response to the 2022 release “The Kashmir Files.” While the latter focused on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits and framed Kashmiri Muslims as perpetrators of violence, “Saffron Kingdom” seeks to present an alternate perspective—highlighting the experiences of Kashmiri Muslims facing alleged abuses by Indian security forces.

'Govts must walk the talk on gender equality, right to health, human rights to deliver SDGs by 2030'

By A Representative With just 64 months left to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), global health and rights advocates have called upon governments to honour their commitments on gender equality and the human right to health. Speaking ahead of the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), experts warned that rising anti-rights and anti-gender pushes are threatening hard-won progress on SDG-3 (health and wellbeing) and SDG-5 (gender equality).

From lazy to lost? The myths and realities behind generational panic about youth

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak Older generations in many societies often describe the young with labels such as “lazy, unproductive, lost, anxious, depoliticised, unpatriotic or wayward.” Others see them as “social media, mobile phone and porn addicts.” Such judgments arise from a generational anxiety rooted in fears of losing control and from distorted perceptions about youth, especially in the context of economic crises, conflicts, and wars in which many young lives are lost.

Counterview

Search This Blog