FM Nirmala Sitharaman's second Budget is falling short of expectation

The government should have increased allocations to the MGNREGA, PM-KISAN and rural infrastructure to raise incomes in rural areas

The Indian economy has been slowing down in the last few years. Both the agriculture and the rural non-farm sector have been under distress. The agricultural GDP growth rate declined from 5 per cent in 2017-18 to 2.9 per cent in 2018-19, and 2.8 per cent in 2019-20. In fact, it was 2 per cent and 2.1 per cent in Q1 and Q2 of 2019-20 respectively. 

The growth rate of wages was also very low in the last few years. The overall economic slowdown was partly because of low incomes and the lack of demand in rural areas. Therefore, one