Keeping polls in mind, state budgets offer sops to farmers

State budgets are raining sops to pull farmers' votes

With elections staring at them, several state governments are suddenly waking up to the demands of farmers and offering sops to the agriculture sector in their budgets, even as farmer organisations say the state and Central governments should do more.   

Karnataka, which pioneered the trend of having a separate agriculture budget--similar to the railway budget at the Centre — brought it out for the third consecutive year this month. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state, which will go to polls this year, has announced Rs 600 bonus for tur farmers over and above the minimum support price of Rs 3,500 a quintal.  

Odisha, which will face polls next year, presented a separate budget for agriculture for the first time this month. The Biju Janata Dal government also showered sops on farmers and fishermen.

Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh governments had presented their separate agriculture budgets for the first time last year. In this year’s budget, Madhya Pradesh announced a bonus of Rs 150 per quintal for wheat growers. In Chhattisgarh, the BJP government announced a bonus of Rs 270 per quintal on paddy. It said a total of Rs 10,500 crore will be spent on agriculture in the state. Both states will face polls in 2013.

Andhra Pradesh, where elections will be held in 2014, is said to be planning a separate budget for agriculture in this financial year.

Farmers’ movements feel it is a welcome move, but are not sure if having a separate budget has changed the way the sector is treated by the governments.

Says Chukki Nanjundaswamy, daughter of N D Nanjundaswamy, the founder of the Karnataka Rajya Rayata Sangha: “Agriculture got a quarter of the total allocations, which is the same as it always got. It is not enough just to have a separate budget in name. It should be able to allocate enough to reflect the fact that agriculture is the biggest employer in the state and country.”

In spite of a drought situation in the state, the budget does not even mark any separate allocations for the drought-hit areas, she adds. “What is the point in giving a separate budget if it is blind to the problems faced by farmers?”

Devinder Sharma, an activist and economist, has been credited with promoting the idea of having separate agriculture budgets, especially in Karnataka. But he also agrees it has not had the desired fruits so far in Karnataka.

Vijay Jhawandhia, a farmer activist from the Setkari Sanghatna in  the Vidarbha region, Maharashtra, feels it is merely an “eye wash”. “What is the point of having a separate budget, when the states don’t have the funds to spare for farmers?”

Agriculture should be made a concurrent issue as advocated by National Farmers Commission chairman M S Swaminathan. Only then, the states would stop being dependent on the Centre for funds for agriculture. Jhawandhia cites the example of fertiliser subsidies, which come from the Centre. Even if the state wanted to change it, it would not be able to do that, he says.