Ab ki baar, repackage Sarkaar, say experts on Finance Minister’s Friday announcements

Accusing the FM of announcing schemes and allocations which were already made in the last two years, and laying a framework for the future, experts ask how farmers are going to be rescued now ?

Photo courtesy- social media
Photo courtesy- social media
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NH Web Desk

Some reacted to the Finance Minister’s announcements on agriculture sector on Friday with amused resignation.

Phir wahi shaam, wahi PC , wahi tanhai hai

Dil ko behlane teri package chali aayi hai

Sitaram Yechury tweeted, “Mega repackaging again. Part three of the Rs 20 lakh Crore financial package on Agriculture deals more with post-Covid period rather than addressing the crisis itself and its devastating impact on rural India.

Ajay Vir Jakhar, himself an agriculturist, reacted by saying, “Approach a long term vision statement for India, & not Keynesian economics which would be ‘Unemployment is caused if people don’t spend enough money’. Pushing & channelizing liquidity through bank loans not demand generation.”

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted, “Without getting into its merits and demerits: On April 8 2020 Home Ministry writes to states to invoke Essential Commodities Act On May 15 2020 Finance Minister announces that it will be amended. What changed in 38 days?”


Even Yogendra Yadav wondered why the Essential Commodities Act was being changed at this time. Several people feared that this would allow traders to hoard.

Another agriculture expert Ramandeep Singh Mann tweeted, “Poultry sector suffered a loss of Rs 13,000 Crore according to Jt Secretary, Animal Husbandry Ministry. Loss pegged by Poultry Federation is Rs 22,500 Crore and yet Nirmala Sitharaman ramps up animal husbandry infrastructure development fund, which was set up in 2018 …what about now?”


Mann in fact pointed out that several announcements by the FM on Friday were made before and was old wine.

• TOP (Tomato, Onion and Potato) scheme was announced in 2018-19 budget with an outlay of 500 crore, & after two years Modi Govt bothered to approve 162 crore under this scheme, to stabilize the supply of tomato, onion and potato crops How is this any different? Please do not fault me for having zero faith?

• Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund and Fisheries & Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund for fisheries sector totalling Rs 10,000 crore was announced in the Budget for 2018-19.


• The cabinet had approved National Animal Disease Control Programme for eliminating foot and mouth disease and brucellosis in May, 2019, with an outlay of Rs 13,343 Crore for five years between 2014 and 2019. Why is the FM announcing them again? To inflate the Atmanirbhar package?

Yogendra Yadav, President of Swaraj India, who describes himself as an activist and a lapsed academic, was equally scathing in his reaction. In a long Twitter thread, he wrote on Friday:

• “Why does the FM begin every presser with routine data about ongoing schemes? Why can't she at least compare this data with that of the same scheme, for the same period for last year? Is she short of research assistance? Or nothing worth reporting?”

* Eight declarations on infrastructure:

1. Fund for aggregators will be set up "at the earliest": 1 lakh crore. The question is who is creating this fund? When?

2. Micro food entreprise: 10 k cr. Is that a new declaration? Fresh allocation?

3. Matsaya sampada: what's new?

4. Foot and mouth disease: Already in the budget


5. Dairy infrastructure: 15k cr. To be spent in this year?

6. Herbal cultivation: 4k cr. fresh allocation?

7. Honey produce: 500 cr. Is this additional?

8. TOP has been a failure so far, now a total failure?

* Data on MSP procurement, PMFBY etc: is that higher than last year? Higher than expected? Or else what's the point of giving this data?

I can't see what was the point of this press conference? Clearly, nothing to do with lockdown package. Was it a fresh agri budget? Or was it just about occupying national TV for an hour and faff about farmers?

"Foot and mouth disease" stood out for me!”, he concluded.

The FM may not get the joke though.


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Published: 15 May 2020, 8:26 PM