AIKS Press Note on Budget 2014-15: Rise Against Modi Government’s Anti-Farmer, Pro-Corporate Budget
10th July 2014
The Union Budget of 2014 presented by the Narendra Modi led NDA Government has reaffirmed its pro-corporate and anti-Farmer bias. It aims to promote unbridled profiteering by Foreign and Domestic capital. It has belied the hopes of the people and also gone back on the pre-election promises of Narendra Modi to control inflation, and make agriculture remunerative as well as an attractive proposition. All India Kisan Sabha condemns this pro-corporate Budget and will organise the masses and peasantry against the harmful policies.
The budget drastically reduces Central Plan outlay in Agriculture and Allied Sectors as well as Rural Development and Social Services. Allocation for MGNREGS has remained almost unaltered and considering the inflation in real terms it has rather declined. The Modi Government aims to bring about fiscal consolidation through the reduction of public expenditure rather than by generating more revenues by taxing the rich and corporate sector. Further the Budget proposes to reduce Direct Taxes to benefit the rich. This would effectively lead to a revenue loss of Rs.22,200 crores even as the indirect taxes affecting the masses has been increased by Rs.7,525 crores. The gap between the rich and the poor will be further widened by this regressive step.
The Modi Government seems totally oblivious and clueless regarding the drastic deficiency in rainfall and fall in Kharif sowing as well as other possible adverse impacts of the El Nino effect. The Budget has no proposals for Confidence Building Measures like provision of free seeds, subsidised inputs, interest free loans etc. It merely proposes a “National Adaptation Fund” with an initial sum of merely Rs.100 crore to meet the vagaries of climate change. Petroleum subsidies are proposed to be reduced further by Rs.22,054 crores and it will lead to further increases in irrigation and transportation costs for Farmers. This will lead to spiralling prices and exposes the Modi Government’s lack of imagination in tackling the double digit food inflation. The Budget has no concrete proposals to control prices in the context of the deficient monsoon.
The Rs.1000 crore provided for “Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojna” for assured irrigation is pittance and aimed at hoodwinking the Farmers. Given that there are around 600 Districts in the country it will boil down to merely Rs 1.66 crore per District which cannot practically assure irrigation to the entire District. This is making a mockery of the plight of the Farmers in the rain-fed regions and arid dry-lands.
The idea of a National Market for Farm Produce is also infringing on the Federal rights of the State and is a step towards centralisation. The Government also envisages dilution of the State APMC Acts and facilitate unregulated access for private players and corporate to the Agricultural Markets on the pretext that they are restrictive and create barriers to free trade. Big cartels and traders will come into play and Farmers will be adversely affected.
On the issue of remunerative prices the Government promise of fixing Minimum Support Prices at least 50 percent above Cost of Production (C2+50%) has been conveniently set aside. Instead on the eve of the Budget Session, State Governments have been ordered to stop providing production incentives and additional bonuses over and above the MSP. States have been threatened that Food Corporation of India will not procure from such States as bonuses are “market distorting”. Now the Government claims that to mitigate the risk of Price volatility for agriculture produce, a sum of Rs.500 crore will be provided for establishing a “Price Stabilization Fund”. The amount set aside will be unable to meet the Price Stabilisation requirement of even a single crop and is a gimmick.
There is nothing new in the proposed Scheme to provide Soil Health Cards to all Farmers. Soil Health Cards are already being issued in most States. Instead what was required is to have a National Soil Amelioration and Replenishment Programme providing free ameliorants like gypsum, dolomite, lime etc to Farmers based on assessment of soil conditions and an encouragement for Bio-Fertilisers. The amount set aside for this Scheme as well as Mobile Soil Testing Units is also too meagre.
Instead of scrapping the Nutrient Based Subsidy Regime in Fertilisers and reversing decontrol unfortunately the Government has spoken of a New Urea Policy. This will only lead to increasing prices of urea bowing to the demands of the Fertiliser Lobby. Given that there is a meagre increase of Rs.5000 crores in subsidy in the context of rising international prices the Farmers will have to pay higher prices as there is no control over prices. The reduction of subsidies for Potassic and Phosphatic fertilisers is likely to increase the prices of these Fertilisers further.
On the issue of rural credit and credit for agriculture there is no effort to reduce the rate of interest. It has also not made any mandatory provision for ensuring that real Farmers and not corporate agribusinesses are the beneficiaries of the increase in credit. Increased FDI in insurance, real estate and PPP model will also have adverse impact for Farmers. A slew of announcements of different schemes with impractical allocations have been announced. Many are old schemes which are newly named or packaged. This is an eye-wash as it tries to portray the correct intentions without any political will to carry them through.
AIKS feels this budget will disincentivise agriculture and push Farmers into further distress. We will expose the anti-peasant nature of the Modi Government and calls upon all units to organise protest actions against it.
Sd/-
Amra Ram, President
Hannan Mollah, General Secretary
