Noting that the budgetary allocation for agriculture has been reduced this year, the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Agriculture said there was a need for more funding to achieve the aim of doubling farmers income by 2022 and urged the Agriculture Ministry to take up the issue with the Finance Ministry. The panel also pulled up the Agriculture Ministry for low utilisation of existing funds.
The allocation of ₹1.23 lakh crore for the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW) during the year 2021-22 is lower than the budget estimates of ₹1.32 lakh crore in the previous year.
There has been a decrease in allocations under key schemes such as the income support scheme PM-KISAN, a farmers pension scheme, several price support schemes, and the interest subsidy for short term farm loans. Given that almost 55% of the country’s workforce is engaged in agriculture and allied activities, the Committee said it was “of the considered view that there is need for enhancement in allocations for implementation of various Schemes of the Department for providing more support to farmers in order to achieve the aim of doubling the income of farmers by 2022. The Committee, therefore, recommends the Government to enhance the allocations for Agriculture Sector.”
More worryingly, the panel noted that the DAC&FW has surrendered almost ₹18,000 crore last year and more than ₹34,000 crore the previous year because of non-utilisation of funds. Department officials told the panel that “less utilization of funds is mainly on account of slow economic activity on the part of State Governments due to COVID-19 Pandemic and other related factors related to this”. They also said there is significant pendency in the submission of utilisation certificates by the States, which delays further fund releases and obstructs the implementation of schemes. The panel asked for an action plan to be submitted to resolve these hurdles.
The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana, which is a contributory pension scheme for small and marginal farmers, has had a very poor response, said the panel. When the scheme was launched in September 2019, it aimed to cover five crore beneficiaries by 2021-22. The target was later downgraded to three crore. However, in reality, just only 21 lakh farmers have subscribed to the scheme so far. The panel urged the department to identify the reasons for low enrolment and comprehensively modify the scheme if needed.
