Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Gujarat scare may sow seeds of farm-focused policy in Budget -Deepshikha Sikarwar & Himangshu Watts

Gujarat scare may sow seeds of farm-focused policy in Budget -Deepshikha Sikarwar & Himangshu Watts

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Dec 19, 2017   modified Modified on Dec 19, 2017
-The Economic Times

NEW DELHI: The BJP's victory in the Gujarat elections, hard-fought as it was, points clearly to the possible direction of the Budget that finance minister Arun Jaitley will present in February. Given its setbacks in non-urban areas, the big focus of the ruling party will be on agriculture and the rural economy, apart from a likely boost in minimum support prices (MSP).

FM Arun Jaitley told ET the results in a handful of Gujarat districts highlighted farmers' issues that the government will "analyse" and "address". He said higher spending on rural India and agriculture isn't populism. "Spending more is a necessity as far as rural India is concerned."

The FM said the victories in Gujarat and Himachal reflected public approval of GST. "Post-GST I think this was very important because there was no place better than Gujaratto test it, because it's a trade centre," he said. "And, I think most of the important trading centres of Gujarat we have won. Traders and business people have been very kind to us... they voted for us."

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling the result a win for reforms and development over the "poison of caste-ism", those themes will also be sustained through upcoming state polls to 2019's general elections.

Agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh said the government will intensify farmer welfare schemes and ensure their effective implementation as well as the payment of MSP. "Our initiatives to double farmer income and increase production will gain more speed," he told ET. "Some states are not doing enough for procurement and giving support prices. The Centre will keep putting pressure that farmers should get MSP."

The February Budget will be the last full-fledged one that will be presented by FM Jaitley before the next election and is likely to be influenced by that fact. This could also mean a reset of the fiscal consolidation road map to give the government more spending room in the next fiscal.

The government is forging ahead with measures to increase farmer income such as major initiatives in dairy development, bee keeping, cold chains and food processing, agriculture minister Singh said. He agreed that rural India was distressed but said policies of the past seven decades were to blame. He insisted that farmers had backed the BJP in Gujarat.

"Farmers support us, otherwise we wouldn't have won. There is an 8 percentage point difference in the vote share (between BJP and Congress)," he said. A senior government official said disaffection in rural areas was the only key worry for the BJP that retained power with a lower number of seats in Gujarat. Initiatives such as increasing the spread of irrigation, doubling farmers' incomes by 2022 and higher MSP for farm produce would be intensified, he said.

Farm modernisation is critical to improving agricultural incomes, said Niti Aayog vicechairman Rajiv Kumar. "It implies that going forward we need radical and urgent steps in agriculture to double farmers' income," he said.

"This can happen only if they become part of entire value chain and don't remain confined as producers of commodities. We at the Niti Aayog are focusing on it and working extensively towards replicating and scaling successful practices in this regard. With the modernisation of agriculture and its transformation to high-value products, MSPs could well become inconsequential over time. That is a surer means to addressing farmers' distress."

Please click here to read more.

(With inputs from Ruchika Chitravanshi)

The Economic Times, 19 December, 2017, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/gujarat-scare-may-sow-seeds-of-farm-focused-policy-in-budget/articleshow/62126512.cms


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close