First agriculture budget draws flak

The State Government on Monday introduced budget exclusively for agriculture sector amidst criticism from the opposition parties. The members of Telugu Desam Party staged walkout when the Minister Kanna Lakshminarayana was presenting the budget.

Presenting the budget for agriculture Minister for Agriculture Kanna Lakshminarayana said the State Government has taken the initiative to present the budget for agriculture for the welfare of the farming community as 60 per cent of people were dependent on farm sector. 

The budget earmarked Rs 72,450 crore for agriculture loans, Rs 8,207 crore for non-plan expenditure for agriculture, Rs 17,694 crore was shown as plan expenditure for agriculture, Rs 589 crore for natural calamities, Rs 308 crore for seed development, Rs 150 crore for solar power facilities, Rs 500 crore for interest-less loans and Rs 100 crore for safeguarding the interests of the farmers if they were denied Minimum Support Price (MSP).

Meanwhile, the agriculture budget attracted strong criticism from the opposition parties stating that as it would be a violation of Assembly privileges. Several parties protested over presentation of agriculture budget. Lok Satta president Jayaprakash Narayan asked on what rule the Government presented the budget and it created hype, but the farmers were denied their due share in the budget.   He issued notices for privilege motion. TDP leader Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy said presenting action plan for agriculture was violation of constitutional rights. Another TDP leader Ashok Gajapathi Raju said allocation of funds for agriculture was reduced from 4.1 per cent to 3 per cent. The Government deceived the people in the form of agriculture action plan, he added. Admitting some confusion, Minister Kanna Lakshmi Narayana said it happened because it was presented for the first time in the Assembly.

-Sakshipost