-Press Note on Union Budget 2016-17 from Swaraj Abhiyan The farmers of India needed and expected a big deal from this year’s budget &NDAsh; they needed it because it is a time of unprecedented consecutive years of drought, and rising farmer suicides; they expected it because the Prime Minister and the government indicated that major pro-farmer steps would be announced in the Budget. The Budget presented by Finance Minister today is...

-Deccan Herald Learning from the Sikkim experience, the Modi government on MoNDAy announced bringing 5 lakh acres of rainfed land under organic farming over the next three years. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced the allocation of Rs 412 crore for two schemes &NDAsh; Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana and Organic Value Chain Development in North East Region &NDAsh; that seek to promote organic farming. “The ‘Parmparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana’ will bring 5 lakh acres...

-Press Release from National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) Government Running away from Responsibility: Pushing Farmers on edges Overlooked the need of majority of population, catering to few Political ‘Jumlas’ continues, ditching farmers once again under the garb of corporate regime; reduced responsibilities of public sector In recent times, announcement of the Union budget seems to be becoming a futile exercise, even with all the publicity and hype associated with it. We...

-The Indian Express The budget recognises the crisis in rural India, but allocations do not match the talk In India now, there appears to be an inverse relationship between the time finance ministers spend talking about a particular issue in their budget speeches and the amount of money they actually allocate to deal with it. This was true of former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s budget speeches, but incumbent FM Arun Jaitley...

In the age of social media, various sections of the Indian polity and civil society have reacted publicly in diverse voices, following the presentation of the Union Budget 2016-17 by Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley. An assessment of the Union Budget 2016-17 has been done in the following paragraphs by the Inclusive Media for Change team, based on a number of media reports, Government documents (including the Budget documents), and reports...