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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | 'Rationalising subsidies, improving infrastructure could revive agri-sector' -Kiran Pandey

'Rationalising subsidies, improving infrastructure could revive agri-sector' -Kiran Pandey

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published Published on Sep 21, 2018   modified Modified on Sep 21, 2018
-Down to Earth

For every million rupees spent on agricultural research, 328 people are pulled out of poverty. In contrast, the same amount spent on power subsidies brings only 23 people come out of poverty.

The message is clear. With the Union elections only a few months away, the Centre should prioritise capital investments over populist subsidies to deliver on its promise of strengthening the farm sector.

This is important, especially when the Punjab and Haryana High Court on September 18 pulled up the Punjab government for granting subsidy on agricultural pump set power connections to farmers, both, rich and poor. The court was responding to a PIL seeking exclusion of rich farmers in Punjab from the purview of free power for agricultural pump sets.

Interestingly, a draft Punjab State Agriculture Policy prepared by the Punjab State Farmers & Farm Workers Commission says rationalising power subsidy will reduce unsustainable use of groundwater and support marginal farmers. The draft policy is likely to be tabled in the forthcoming Vidhan Sabha session.  

According to Farmers’ commission chairman Ajay Vir Jakhar, “The most important objective is groundwater, as a 110 of 149 blocks are in the dark zone. On an average, we are drawing out 172 per cent of water, in comparison to recharge. There are blocks where withdrawal is 200 per cent. In Sangrur, a suicide-prone area, it is 185 per cent. If we continue like this, we will have no water in 20-25 years. We don’t have a choice.”

The draft proposes rationalising the power subsidy and strictly restricting it for the non-income tax payee farmers.  Initially, it proposes levying a fat rate on power at the rate of Rs.100 per Break Horse Power (BHP) per month for the farmer owning 4 hectares of land or more, to be utilised for the welfare of small, marginal and landless farmers. Subsequently, consider rationing the power subsidy to a financial cap for such farmers, says the policy.

Subsidy-driven agriculture sector is not sustainable

The agriculture sector in India seems to be more dependent on input subsidies, but subsidy-driven agriculture systems are not sustainable says the Dalwai Committee on doubling farmers’ income. The availability of cheap power has led to irrational use of the groundwater says the panel in its report and calls for rationalising the use of subsidies for needy farmers. For example, subsidised electricity in states like Punjab and Haryana has led to assured incomes, but also to groundwater depletion, income inequality, and unsustainable agriculture. It criticised the support through subsidies which favoured limited crops like wheat and rice and thus benefitting the largely irrigated areas. It called for covering the support to a larger number of crops, sub-sectors, geographies, rain-fed & irrigation systems and farmers.  

Please click here to read more.

Down to Earth, 20 September, 2018, https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/agriculture/-rationalising-subsidies-improving-infrastructure-could-revive-agri-sector--61679


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