Foundation for Democratic Reforms and Lok Satta Founder Jayaprakash Narayan has said the Union Government let go of an opportunity to take a strategic big step and introduced a casual budget without trying for fundamental change.
The country in its present situation needed a big and bold step. China had taken such a step and in 1991, P.V.Narasimha Rao and Dr.Manmohan Singh had taken such an initiative when it was required. But the Budget introduced by the government did not reflect any effort to attain China’s position, create one crore jobs per year and create employment opportunities on a large scale like China.
Even in agriculture sector, the Budget failed to announce policies to increase exports and enable farmers earn more income and the it did not lay foundation for fundamental changes in the sector and repeated what had been said for the last 25 years.
All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) said the Budget fails to increase rural demand and purchasing power which would have boosted the economy. Instead, it only boosts the profits of big corporates and MNCs. Total budget allocation for agriculture, rural development and irrigation was ₹2.68 lakh crore in 2019-20 and now nominally increased to ₹2.83 lakh crore and in real terms, taking inflation into account, it amounts to zero increase.
Budget 2020 proposes increased penetration of MNCs and corporate giants in agriculture inputs supply, procurement of crops, storage, agri-processing, insurance and marketing of crops. It gives no relief to peasants from high input costs, low crop prices, distress sale, crop losses. Their exploitation by companies will increase through leasing of their land, making them indebted, buying their crops cheap and earning huge profits in food processing and marketing, the AIKSCC said.
AIKSCC is a nationwide platform of more than 200 farmer organizations across the country which has been leading nationwide movement for achieving the farmers' charter.
