ARE WE THERE YET?

Model villages are Still far from the goal of doubling farmers’ income by 2022

- RAJU SAJWAN

ON FEBRUARY 28, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared his dream of doubling farmers' income by the time the country celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2022, at a farmer rally in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. The government has spent five years chasing that dream. Now, less than 20 months from the deadline, the government's own data says that agricultural growth is nowhere close to realising that dream. As per Economic Survey 2019-20, released on January 31, 2020, the annual growth rate of agriculture and its allied sectors in real terms was 2.88 per cent between 2014-15 and 2018-19. The estimated growth rate in 2019-20 is 2.9 per cent.