Promise of doubling farmers' income fake: Vinod Kumar

Hyderabad: Stating that the promise of the BJP government at the Centre of 'doubling of income of the farmers' were all fake, the Telangana State Planning Board Vice Chairman B Vinod Kumar on Saturday said that the BJP government's goal would never be achieved.

Lauding the BJP member P C Gaddigoudar, the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing, for questioning the inefficiency of the government and instructing the government to find out the exact reasons for falling farmer incomes, Vinod said that it must be noted that doubling farmer's income was one of the tall claims of the ruling party since they have been in power at the Centre. This year is notable as it was the goal for doubling farmers' income which was promised six years ago in February, 2016 and has been a staple item in all budget speeches and the speeches of the ruling party leaders including the Prime Minister.

Vinod said that all through the seven years of the ruling BJP's government, 2022 was considered as the goal post to transform India from developing to developed. Instead, a new goal post has been set up for 25 years hence as the government is poised that it will never be able to achieve it. "Once again an unmistakable way of avoiding all accountability I am confident that things will never progress in the BJP's regime and even after 25 years we will still be considered a developing nation if we continue to dance to the fallacies of this government," said Vinod.

The Planning Board VC said that as per the government's Doubling Farmers' Income Committee report, the benchmark household income of 2015-16 was Rs 8,059 per month and this was promised to be doubled in real terms, taking inflation into account.

As such, the target income by 2022 is Rs 21,146 per month. At the mid-way point of the six-year period, the estimated monthly income of farm households in 2018-19 was Rs 10,218 per month in nominal terms, as shown by National Sample Survey Office's (NSSO) 77th round data released in 2021. A projection for the next 3 years adjusting for the annual agricultural growth rates gives an estimated income of Rs 12,445 per month in 2022. The target of Rs.21,146 remains a mirage, he said.

Vinod said that the farmer income was falling in most of the States in the country. In four years, for Jharkhand it has come down from Rs 7,068 to Rs 4,895, for Madhya Pradesh it has come down from Rs 9,740 to Rs 8,339, for Nagaland it has come down from Rs 11,428 to Rs 9,877, for Odisha it has come down from Rs 5,274 to Rs 5,112.

Vinod said that the committee had found serious lapses in the functioning as well as the efficiency of the Agriculture department. How can a department that's considered to be one the most important departments that caters to the growth of the nation be so lackadaisical in its performance? A whopping amount of 67,929.10 crores have been surrendered by the department to the Government over the last four years. While other departments in the nation are grappling for funds, the Agriculture department is setting the bar high for unnecessary fiscal prudence with its inefficiency, he added.