Rural And Agrarian Crises Largely Unaddressed

Against the backdrop of recent farmers’ agitations in large parts of India and the BJP’s unexpectedly poor electoral performance in many states, it was expected that the NDA government would present a farmer-centric rural budget this time round. and middle-class oriented budget and may increase the disposable income in the hands of the rural population and the Indian middle class.

- Kishore Kumar Biswas

If one concentrates on the rural and agricultural sector, it is seen that the main announcement for them was a direct income support to farmers which is 6000 per year per farming family with up to two hectares of agricultural land. This money will be transferred in three instalments of 2000.

According to political commentators, the NDA government was under pressure to announce this scheme as Congress President Rahul Gandhi had already declared that a minimum income scheme for the poor would be assured if his party was voted to power in the 2019 parliamentary election.

How far this helpful?

To understand this issue, one should look at the present rural and agricultural sector of Indian economy. For the last few years, the rural sector has been in deep crisis. A big segment of the rural economy has been suffering from the composite impact of consecutive drought conditions for several years.