Tidings for agri-budget

All eyes will be on how the govt addresses the narrative of agrarian distress

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UDGET 2025 WILL be presented at a time when farmers are staging a year-long protest on the Punjab-Haryana border. All eyes will be on how it addresses the issues troubling the farmers who are restive as cultivation at the margin is increasingly unviable due to costlier inputs. Agriculture is also exposed to the vagaries of climate change and extreme weather. Farming thus entails growing risks but yields meagre returns. Farmers have been agitating for a legal guarantee for minimum support prices (MSPs) to shore up their incomes, among other demands. The finance ministry has had pre-Budget consultations with farmer representatives, and sought their feedback on government initiatives and what more can be done to improve productivity and resilience of the agricultural sector. They have demanded a review of the MSP regime, doubling PM-Kisan income support, cheaper long-term credit, and scrapping the goods and services tax on various agricultural inputs. The agriculture minister has also had pre-Budget discussions with farmer representatives and a review meeting with state agricultural