Farmer leaders Rakesh Tikait and Yogendra Yadav on Tuesday, 1 February, criticised the lack of allocation to the agriculture industry under the 2022 Union Budget.
Calling the budget a mere webs of words, Tikait said the document only carried words like “Amrit Mahotsav,” “Gatishakti,” and “e-Vidya” without meaning much, news agency PTI reported.
He further condemned the lowered allocation for the Minimum Support Price (MSP).
"In the budget today, the Modi government reduced the budget of MSP significantly from last year. In 2021-22, the budget for MSP purchase was 248000 crores, which was reduced to 237000 crores in the budget of 2022-23, that too only for the purchase of paddy and wheat. It seems that the government does not want to buy other crops on MSP."Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Leader Rakesh Tikait
"The government delivered a huge deception to the farmers in Budget 2022. No relief on double the income of farmers, Samman Nidhi, 2 crore jobs, MSP, fertilizer-seeds, diesel and pesticides. There will be losses in crops due to budget allocation in crop purchase at MSP," he stated.
Swaraj India President Yogendra Yadav also expressed his condemnation regarding the lowering of the agriculture budget.
"This budget is a revenge on the farmers for leading a successful movement against the anti-farmer 3 laws. Overall budget of agriculture and allied activities has DROPPED! From 4.26% previous year to 3.84% now. Let them eat drones," Yadav tweeted.
"This year 2022 has completed 6 years of doubling the farmer's income; in every budget at least it was spoken about, this time not a word was spoken. Now when the time has come to answer the country with the farmers on this issue, the Modi government has kept silence. The era of scams continues!"Yogendra Yadav
2.37 Lakh Cr MSP for 163 L Farmers in Agri Budget 2022
Presenting the Union Budget on Tuesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced, "Inclusive development is the government's priority which includes procurement of wheat, paddy, kharif and rabi crops, benefitting over 1 crore farmers."
"1,208 lakh MT of wheat and paddy will be procured from 163 lakh farmers. 2.37 lakh crores will be the direct payment of Minimum Support (MSP) value to their accounts," the finance minister said.
"Use of Kisan Drones for crop assessments, land records, spraying of insecticides is expected to drive a wave of technology in agriculture and farming sector," Sitharaman had announced.
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