The Samyukt Kisan Morcha is disappointed with the 2023 Union Budget Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, 1 February.
It is an umbrella body of over 40 Indian farmers’ unions formed during November 2020 farmers’ struggle against the three farm acts, which were later repealed.
Calling it the most anti-farmer Budget in the history of India, it demanded the government focus on resolving “critical issues”.
“SKM demands that the government stops fooling farmers and seriously focuses on resolving the critical issues of farmers, like a legal guarantee of MSP, crop insurance, reduction of input costs, and steady availability of inputs,” the Samyukt Kisan Morcha said in a statement about the Union Budget 2023 and its impact on farmers.
Massive reduction in Budget, says Samyukta Kisan Morcha
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha alleged that there was no mention of doubling the farmers’ income in Union Budget 2023 as promised by the government and that it has been concealing data on the same.
“Out of the targeted increase in income of ₹13,000 (from ₹8,000 in 2016 to ₹21,000 in 2022), only ₹4,400 has been achieved… that is only one-third of the target,” the Samyukt Kisan Morcha said.
It also expressed displeasure at the Prime Minister’s crop insurance scheme known as Fasal Bima Yojana, which saw a reduction of ₹1,875 crore — from ₹15,500 in 2022 to ₹13,625 crore.
“In times of shifting weather patterns and climate change, this scheme was supposed to protect farmers from crop losses due to natural calamities. As crop losses mount, crop insurance support is being cruelly reduced by the government,” the Samyukt Kisan Morcha pointed out.
Similarly, the group expressed dismay over the cost-cutting in other policies such as the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi (from ₹68,000 crore in 2022 to ₹60,000 crore in 2023) and subsidy on fertilisers (from ₹2,25,000 crore in 2022 to ₹1,75,000 crore).’
The farmers union noted that while the budgetary allocation for agriculture and allied sectors has been reduced from 3.84 percent to 3.20 percent, rural development has gone down from 5.81 percent to 5.29 percent.
“With such massive reductions, the government intends to squeeze out the lifeblood from the farming sector and thereby the farmers of India,” the Samyukt Kisan Morcha said.
‘Union Budget 2023 silent on MSP for farmers’
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha claimed that the Union government is maintaining silence on Minimum Support Price (MSP) for farmers even after the recommendation of the Swaminathan Commission.
Chaired by Professor MS Swaminathan, the National Commission on Farmers (NCF) was formed in 2004. While suggesting ways to enhance the major farming systems’ productivity, profitability, and sustainability, it asked the government to implement the MSP.
“While the government has irrationally resisted the demands of farmers for MSP and its guarantee, this Budget has removed even the fig leaf with which the government was trying to cover its meagre efforts to ensure that farmers get MSP,” said the farmers’ body.
It added that the flagship schemes have also seen a “steady decline in fund allocation., especially the PM Annadata Aay Sangrakshan Abhiyan (AASHA) — from ₹1500 crore in 2020 to ₹1 crore in 2023.
“Only ₹1 crore to secure 150 million farming households! Similarly, Price Support Scheme (PSS) and MIS (Market Intervention Scheme) were reduced from ₹3,000 crore to ₹1500 crore in 2022 and this year it is an unimaginable ₹10 lakhs! In effect, the government has buried ASHA, PSS and MIS and with that, the fate of farmers getting MSP has been buried,” the farmers’ body alleged.
MGNREGS scheme
Sitharaman announced a sharp ₹13,000 crore cut in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) — from ₹73,000 crore in 2022 to ₹60,000 crore this year.
The scheme, flagged off in 2004 during the former PM Manmohan Singh-led UPA tenure, guarantees 100 days of wage employment to at least one member of every household engaged in unskilled labour.
“In 2022, the budget allocation was ₹73,000 crore but in the face of rural joblessness and restless demand, the government was forced to spend ₹90,000 crore Since the general economy and especially the rural economy is still in deep crisis, it is unbelievable that the government has hacked down the allocation of MNREGS to ₹60,000 crore, a dramatic cut of ₹30,000 crore,” the farmers’ body stated.
New schemes without fulfilling previous ones
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha alleged that the government is “grandly announcing” new schemes in Budget 2023 for farmers while the previous ones have been forgotten.
While naming the newly introduced Agriculture Accelerator Fund (a digital infrastructure for solutions on crop planning and storage), it alleged, “the government had announced with much fanfare the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund of ₹1 lakh crore. After 3 years it is found that only 10 percent of this fund had been disbursed.”
Similarly, the farmers’s body pointed towards the new storage and marketing schemes of agriculture products in the Budget and noted that a similar scheme introduced four years ago failed.
“Four years ago the government announced converting 22,000 village haats into mandis in 3 years. But the government refuses to share any information and is trying to fool farmers by announcing new schemes of the same type when earlier schemes have failed,” it added
