Union Govt miserably failed to allocate funds for agriculture: SKM

Ongole: The Samkyukt Kisan Morcha Prakasam district convener Chunduri Rangarao called the union government deceived the farmers by reducing the allocations to agriculture and miserably failed on its part in protecting farmers.

Responding to the Union Budget introduced in the parliament by the central minister of finance Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday, Rangarao said that the union government is reducing the allocations to agriculture and MGNREGS year after year, proving that they don't care for the farmers, farm workers and the sections of people in the society who are rotting in the poverty.

He observed that in the Union Budget 2023-24, the government has reduced the percentage of allocations to agriculture to 3.14 per cent from 3.84 per cent last year. For the MGNREGS, he said that the allocations are being reduced year after year, Rs 1.10 lakh crores in 2020-21, Rs 0.75 lakh crores in 2022-23 and now to Rs 0.60 lakh crore. He said that the government didn't make allocations to Fasal Bima Yojana as per the requirement, and decreased the percentage of subsidies for various components of agriculture.

The farmers' leader opined that the budget is made with the salaried employees in focus, to pacify them for the coming elections. He said that by neglecting the welfare of nearly 60 per cent of people in the country, the union government proved that it is on the side of the corporates and wealthy, but not for the poor farmers, farmworkers and the people in villages.