There is an oft-spoken phrase – where there is a will there is a way. If the policies of a Government is its Will then the Budget is meant to give the Way by providing the means with funds. Today’s budget speech of the Finance Minister was more about Government’s intentions, intentions for a long term horizon like 25 years and little on this years’ specific plans. This is more so for the vulnerable section of the society whom we saw walking miles in distress to return home, those street vendors who could not ‘work from home’ to continue earning, the rural populace who could not leave home in search of earning opportunities elsewhere and all such marginalized communities.
The SAS Report ( Land and Livestock Holdings of Households and Situation Assessment of Agricultural Households of NSO) has stated that the small and marginal farmers earnings have a higher proportion of wage earnings than from farming. Economic Survey tabled yesterday shows that employment in Agriculture has increased while unemployment rates are increasing overall. Cultivators who are females has also steadily increased. Moreover, most of the farmer families are small and marginal farmers who can do one season of farming since it is rainfed. What did this section of the people receive in today’s budget?
MGNREGA was not even mentioned. A look at the Rural Development Ministry’s documents shows that two years back MGNREGA expenditure was 1,11, 170 crores; the current financial year the outlay was 73000 crores which had to be increased to 98000 crores as of now, yet for the Fy 22023 the budget outlay is 73000 crores. There is no way to understand the rationale since this was not part of the budget speech!
The total budget outlay of the Rural Development Department has decreased by 12%. Though the number of households to be covered under Awas Yojana has been targeted at 80 lakh ( rural+urban), the budget outlay has decreased marginally when the households build last year is only 32.8 lakh.
There was a mention of 2023 being International Year of Millets, a boost for its post-harvest processing, branding etc but the intent does not seem to be backed by funds. Traditional crops like Millets and other Coarse cereals, Pulses and Oilseeds are generally grown under rainfed conditions, hence a specific monetary incentive to these farmers can go a long way in forwarding subsidies to increase their incomes. Though MSP is announced for almost two dozen crops just of a couple of crops from a few locations are procured, diversifying procurement in terms of crops and geographies can distribute the monies to less resourceful farmers. In spite of a program for Crop Diversification, this also did not get a mention in the speech today.
There is an encouragement to farmers Collectives; to form more farmer producer Organisation by almost doubling its budget outlay and by reducing taxes on the Cooperative societies. This can certainly help.
Poshan Mission for children was mentioned with the introduction of A-V Aids and better infrastructure and yet the budget outlay does not see any increase. Samagra Shiksha sees a slight increase in its outlay but in spite of the mention of the importance of nutrition for children, the budget outlay remains the same as last year. This year Teachers Training has received a handsome increase in its funding which needs to be appreciated.
The enrolment in Government schools has increased in the past couple of years, correspondingly we see a decrease in private school admissions. This too signals distress in this section of families. Children have missed out on learning in a big way, in a very irreversible way. All the impetus to digital/electronic shift elaborated in the speech, for one will take a long time and secondly may or may not support this marginalised section. What are the ways to cope with the loss?
For rural families to augment their incomes, the allied sector especially the small ruminants livestock, poultry and fisheries show promise if one sees the numbers in the Economic Survey. But this does not seem to be on the table for either any programs or better funds. The Agriculture department’s budget outlay has increased only 5% this year, which probably cannot even cover higher expenditures due to inflation. The serious problems like groundwater depletion which has been mentioned in the economic survey do not reflect in its intention since the Soil and Water Conservation has a meagre 30 crore allocation.
For rural financial inclusion, Posts being banks can be a game-changer. The rural populace waited a long time for the Banks to provide banking services which have always been too little, too late. Now the posts which have a good network can get thriving by providing banking services.
Several studies over the last few months have highlighted that the lowest section of our society suffered the most. They are not yet part of the recovery story. Hence, they needed to be included, with special mention for ways to get them involved in meaningful economic activities, to facilitate their personal growth stories but alas they got fogged out. The ambitious plans of GatiShakti, with long time horizons, is the shining star of today’s budget speech but is something missing in that big picture?
