Farm ministry spends less in 2019-20 as PM-KISAN faces teething troubles

While the spending on the scheme hasn't been encouraging in its very first year, cutting down on allocations is premature and can't be justified

As the Narendra Modi government prepares to present its second Budget, most experts and observers have called for increased spending on the rural and agricultural sectors to boost consumption and kick-start the economy which has shown stagnating growth in the past few quarters.

But will the rural economy improve simply by allocating more money to it, or is there something else that needs to be done to give it a big push?

Also, of the various schemes and programmes of the Centre, which ones should be accorded greater priority in order to pump money into the hands of the rural