-TheWire.in The finance minister has made a big announcement on minimum support price, but he should make it clear whether all he is promising is to take the prices back to the UPA-II levels. The government has done it again. Like last year, there has been much hype about a pro-farmer Budget, but in actuality it rests on misleading claims which don’t address the farming crisis. Last year, the agriculture credit target...
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Agriculture: Budget promises MSP 50% above cost, doesn't define which cost -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express Whether it is the Budget, the Swaminathan formula or the BJP manifesto, none of them has quite defined what really constitutes “cost of production”. And therein lies the nub. The Union Budget for 2018-19 has promised to fix minimum support prices (MSP) for crops to guarantee farmers at least 50 per cent returns on production costs. This is quite similar to the original recommendation of the M S Swaminathan-headed...
More »Will linking MSP with cost really have any benefits? No, say farmers & experts -Chitleen K Sethi
-ThePrint.in Farmers’ bodies and experts say the key to any benefit to farmers lies in how the production cost or the cost of cultivation is calculated. Chandigarh: One of the most significant takeaways from the Union Budget presented by finance minister Arun Jaitley Thursday was the proposed increase the minimum support price (MSP) for all unannounced kharif crops to at least one-and-a-half times the production cost. The announcement is expected to directly impact...
More »Jaitley's farm-inclined Budget promises new agricultural schemes -- but not the funds for them -Mridula Chari
-Scroll.in The agriculture budget grew more than the actual budget in 2018-19. Some of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s promises to the agriculture sector in his Budget speech may be a little difficult to keep. Jaitley on Thursday announced two funds together valued at Rs 10,000 crore to develop infrastructure for the fisheries and animal husbandry sectors. But his Budget has allotted only Rs 10 crore to the Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development...
More »Where's the money, Mr Jaitley? -Jayati Ghosh
-The Indian Express There are grand promises. But the actual increases in budgetary outlays are shockingly low. This government is especially good at optics, at managing public perceptions to persuade people that it is working for them, rather than doing so. So it is no surprise that Arun Jaitley’s pre-election budget speech went on about how much his government cares for the people, the poor, for farmers, for women, for people...
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