A budget is a much awaited exercise especially for tax payers. They weigh the benefits against tax cuts and the rise in income tax ceilings. For the large population of Indians not employed in the formal sector, however, there are other aspirations. Those in agriculture and allied activities such as veterinary and animal husbandry and there is a huge section, would want a regime that takes care of crop and animal insurance. The vagaries of weather due to climate change has created uncertainty of production. Rains are now unseasonal and crop destruction though floods or droughts are inevitable. Hence this Government appears to have taken these concerns on board through a slew of measures. Farmers’ incomes are envisaged to double by 2022 by bringing about 28.5 lakh hectares under irrigation under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana. Also 89 irrigation projects, requiring Rs. 86,500 crore in the next five years would be fast tracked and 23 of these projects would be completed before 31st March, 2017.
The Budget also looks at a dedicated Long Term Irrigation Fund to be created in NABARD with initial corpus of Rs. 20,000 crore. The total outlay on irrigation including market borrowings is R. 12,157 crore. Also a major programme for Sustainable Ground Water management is proposed for multilateral funding at a cost of Rs. 6,000 crore. A total of 5 lakh farm ponds and dug wells in rain-fed areas and 10 lakh compost pits for production of organic manure will be taken up. The Soil Health Cards would also be given to 14 crore farm holdings by March, 2017. Also in the list of interventions is creating 2,000 model retail outlets of fertilizer companies with soil and seed testing facilities in the next three years.
Perhaps the Unified Agricultural Marketing E Platform to be opened in April this year and the Rs 9 lakh crore to be given as agricultural credit would be of immense help to our farmers provided the state is able to tap in to these incentives.
This Budget indeed has a rural thrust. That Rs 2.87 lakh crore will be given as Grant in Aid to Gram Panchayats and Municipalities as per the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission is a great leap forward. This translates to Rs. 81 lakh per gram panchayat and over Rs. 21 crore per Municipality. But this is where Meghalaya will lose out. Without elected municipalities or a democratically elected village governance body, the Centre is unlikely to channelize funds to the state. The District Councils are not a certainly not a substitute for a grassroots governance body. Hence the State Government should now have the political will to push for creation of these duly elected, accountable and transparent governing institutions. This is the need of the hour!