Agri ministry surrenders ₹1 lakh cr of unutilised budget funds in 5 years

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has surrendered over ₹1 lakh crore of unutilised funds budgeted for various central schemes in the last five years, farmer organisation All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) has pointed out.

The organisation has quoted the recent report “Accounts at a Glance for the Year 2022-23” of the Agriculture Ministry to highlight the fact that the ministry’s expenditure was lower than the budgeted amount for key schemes.

Terming it as a shocking case of gross apathy for the plight of farmers in the country, AIKS leaders Ashok Dhawale and Vijoo Krishnan stated that the surrender of over ₹1 lakh crore comes at a time when farmers are demanding increased allocation for agriculture, infrastructure development, expansion of irrigation, price support to ensure remunerative prices and for research and extension.

"In 2018-19 the total allocation for the Ministry was ₹54,000 crore. In that year ₹21,043.75 crore was surrendered. In 2019-20 ₹34,517.7 crore remained unutilised, it was ₹23,824.53 crore in 2020-21, ₹5,152.6 crore in 2021-22 and ₹21,005.13 crore in 2022-23. This comes to a whopping ₹105,543.71 crore in total that is even more than the total allocation for agriculture in some of the years from 2018-19 to 2022-23”, Dhawale and Krishnan said in a joint statement.

The organisation also said that for the Green Revolution scheme aimed at North Eastern States, which had an allocation of ₹6,747 crores in Union Budget 2021-22 had zero allocation in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 Budgets. “The allocation for Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana has been drastically cut from ₹10,433 crores to ₹7,150 crores. The allocation for Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sinchai Yojna was cut from ₹12,954 crores in 2022-23 BE to ₹10,787 Crore in the 2023-24 Budget. The much-hyped Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi also saw no increase from 2022-23 Budget. The allocation is ₹60,000 crores. If the Government’s claim of about 12 crore beneficiaries is taken then at least ₹72,000 crores should have been allocated. Even on the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana in comparison with the 2022-23 Budget Estimates of ₹15,500 crores the 2023-24 Budget has set aside only ₹13,625 crores. The allocation for the important Market Intervention and Price Support Scheme which was ₹1,500 crores in 2022-23 Revised Estimates did not find any mention in the 2023-24 Budget. More than ₹842 crores meant for Agricultural Research has also been surrendered”, AIKS statement said.

The organisation also noted that the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, and Food Processing has also pointed out that the impact of such surrender of funds would adversely impact the North Eastern States, Scheduled Caste Sub Plan and Scheduled Tribe Sub Plan.