A budget reflects the political will and vision of the Government and an important indication of the economic trend of a State. The Government of Odisha has presented a budget of Rs 1, 06,911 crore for 2017-18 and it also include a separate Agriculture Budget of Rs 15,000 crore.
The Chief Minister said that the Budget is for farmers and the poor, but this has not reflected in the allocation of expenditure. It is a good Budget speech to listen but there is absence of real allocation for the poor.
The traditional poor and marginalized sections like the STs and SCs constitute 40 per cent of the total population of the State and it is expected as part of the policy of Budget formulation that such percentage of the budget must be allocated for the STs and SCs under Tribal Sub Plan and SC Sub Plan but the Government has allocated a total of only Rs 20,081 crore which includes Rs 11,965 crore for STs and Rs 8,116 crore for SCs under schemes of different departments, like education, rural employment and livelihood, skill development, housing and electricity. It is denial of due allocation in the Budget as per the provision for inclusive development and it will affect the development of the marginalized sections and backward areas of the State.
The administrative expenditure of the Government which includes salaries, pension, interest payment and maintenance of capital assets is almost near to 50 per cent of the Budget. This will primarily help the people in salaried jobs of the State. It is a fact that SCs and STs have not adequate representation in the Government jobs as per the percentage of their population share.
Education is one of the important means of social transformation but the investment of Government in ensuring quality education for the marginalized poor is very less. The allocation under Akankshya and Anwesha scheme to provide free quality education inclusive of tuition fee, uniform, books, transportation, food and accommodation for SC and ST students in best English medium schools in urban area is very less and it only covers a very handful of students from among the marginalized communities.
It is good that the Government has been allocating substantial finance for the agriculture development of the State as the current year Budget is just double of previous year. It is told that more than 60 per cent of population depends on agriculture and it contributes around 18 per cent to GSDP but these allocations are primarily going to be beneficial to the land owning farmers of the State and there is no allocation for a vast section of agricultural labourers and sharecroppers those who are the backbone of the agriculture operation of the State. In spite of protest from many quarters, the State Government has not developed any policy or legislation to protect the most genuine rights of the sharecroppers and agriculture workers and tribal farmers, who constitute the most vulnerable section in rural agricultural sector. The other sections in agriculture such as milk farmers, forest-based farmers, forest workers, horticulturists and fisher folk are neglected in the Budget without specific allocation for their development. Agriculture also includes livestock, fisheries and forest- based agriculture.
It is fact that rural land owning families are not involved in agriculture and mostly the sharecroppers and agricultural workers do the whole activities relating to production. They ensure agriculture production with all kinds of sufferings. The distress condition in agriculture sector shows it is mostly the small and marginal farmers and sharecroppers who are the worst sufferers of the apathy of the Government in ensuring irrigation, timely credit, seed, fertiliser, insurance and marketing facilities. Many of the illiterate poor farmers have no land and bank account to access DBT schemes in agriculture.
Evidence shows that a majority of the farmers those committed suicide last year are sharecroppers. The agricultural loan with one per cent interest is not reaching to the real farmers. Rather, it is the land owning families availing the low interest loan and mostly, spending on consumption and very little investment goes to serve the purpose. It is told that cooperatives provide around 65 per cent of the crop loans. The Government has allocated Rs 435 crore as interest subsidy to cooperatives as well as commercial banks. The Odisha State Cooperative Banks and Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies are also supported in the Budget. The Government should review the loan schemes and make assessment of the impact of such low interest loans on agriculture and find out ways to reach the real farmers and also to ensure that the loan is being spent on agriculture development.
The risk mitigation fund of Rs 265 crore has been allocated to counter the crop failure owing to drought, flood, cyclone, unseasonal rain and hailstorm as State share to the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana introduced since last year but this fund will not reach to the real farmers such as sharecroppers. There is also additional Rs 88 crore under the Biju Krusak Kalyana Yojana through a network of 100 hospitals to provide health insurance to about 57 lakh farmers’ families. The Central Government schemes such as Rastriya Krishi Vikas Yojana for agriculture and allied sector development with good allocation must include the real farmers. It is hopeful that Paramparagata Krishi Vikas Yojana has provision to targeting the tribal districts of the State.
The distress sale of agricultural produce has been continuing in the State, mostly the small and marginal farmers’ face the problem in the absence of storage facilities and pressure of earning out of sale to meet the bare needs. It is reported from different parts of the State that the vegetable farmers are facing a serious marketing problem. The paddy procurement centers are almost nonfunctional in every districts and farmers are unable to sale their paddy in MSP but forced to sell to the private business centers mostly owned by the private mill owners. The same has been happening with forest workers engaged in collection of minor forest produce and milk farmers in interior rural parts. The State Government has not adequately invested in developing marketing networks and marketing infrastructure to counter the distress sale which not only has affected the farmers but also the consumers and mostly helped the middlemen in business. The State Government has failed to build infrastructure such as cold storage facilities for storage of agricultural produce though there has been huge support declared by the Central Government under agricultural food processing schemes. It is told in the Budget to encourage blue revolution. Rs 48 crore has been allocated for the fish farmers to avail 50 per cent subsidy for creation of ponds for pisciculture. There is encouragement for private investment in fishing sector, but how the landless farmers in rural areas are going to avail this scheme is a moot question.
It is unfortunate that people engaged in agriculture, fishing, animal husbandry and forestry as landless workers are neglected though they are contributing to ensure food security, livelihood and economic growth of the State. It is a fact that the separate Agriculture Budget has given very insignificant attention to the working population in agriculture sector, especially those who belong to the socially marginalised groups in rural areas.
The State investment in agriculture is not poor friendly; rather the poor have a very less share than the land owning rich in rural areas. Therefore, the Budget is not targeting any structural change in the life of rural poor.
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