The Hindu Business Line

I watched the Budget session in a local tea stall in Laxmapur village of Shamirpet mandal, Telangana, with farmers and farm workers around. The moment the finance minister said farmers’ incomes would be doubled, I translated it from English to Telugu (local language) for the benefit of a few of my farmer friends who were around. A women farmer Girijamma, who produces vegetables on 2 acres of land, sipping her tea, jokingly said: “That man (finance minister) doesn’t know what we earn today. How do they know whether our incomes are doubled or whether they halve by 2022?”

Hindustan Times

“The budget is far removed from reality.” That is how young Meet Pal Singh, an MBA who has set up a polyhouse in Mahalon village of Nawanshahr, dismisses the budget. The tall light-eyed youth, who is feted as a progressive farmer in the area, says the Modi government should first focus on implementing the MS Swaminathan report for farmers before coming up with a new set of proposals.

First Post

The farming sector had reasons to expect something big this year. We are living through an era of agrarian crisis and rural distress. Let me not bore you with numbers. Enough to remind that while the share of population dependent on agriculture is going down very slowly, the share of agriculture in the country’s income is coming down rapidly.

Business Standard

Since independence India’s agriculture and allied industries has seen various revolutions like green revolutions (food grain), blue revolution (fisheries), white revolution (milk) and yellow revolution (oil seeds) at different phases to increase farm output and income of farmers.

Business Standard

The most important part of any Budget is to keep revenues and expenditures somewhat in sync. And Budget 2017 does that quite well. Of course, there is much that I would have liked to see but did not, from simplification of the tax code to public sector reform to improved protection of life, property and freedoms.

DNA India

Farmer rights groups have decried what they call “the lack of anything pro-farmer in Budget 2017. They have claimed that the Budget has nothing to assure better income, nothing to lift them out of debt trap, nothing to even compensate for their losses due to demonetization.

India Infoline

“An inclusive budget with a clear focus on agriculture, infrastructure, digitization and employment generation. Medium and Small Enterprises (MSMEs) are the backbone of the industry and generate the maximum employment. Tax cut for the MSMEs with an annual turnover of Rs 50 crore is a welcome gesture and will drive the growth engine as most of India’s companies will get this benefit of 5% tax reduction which will be a relief for them.

The Indian Express

Indian agriculture is characterised by a cyclical trend of good growth and poor growth. The stagnant growth rate at low level combined with decline in size of land holding implies much slower growth in farm income per holding. This calls for three pronged strategy: lifting growth trajectory upward; imparting stability to production and focusing on farm income.

The Times of India

Madhya Pradesh farmers have hailed the announcements made in the Union Budget, but at the same time felt that implementation of these measures will be crucial and a lot will depend on it. The government has set a target of agricultural loan disbursement worth Rs 10,000 crore for this financial year and at the same time increased the corpus of National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD) for its long-term irrigation fund to Rs 40,000 crore.

 

The Financial Express

The finance minister has increased investment in agriculture and rural development by 24% to Rs 1.9 lakh crore. This will encourage development and improve rural incomes. The other major sector which has received the attention of the finance minister is infrastructure, including roads, airports, telecommunications, among others. A provision of R3.9 lakh crore has been made in the Budget. This investment will make up the deficiency in the development process. The two together will also encourage employment growth, which In the past two years was on a decline, particularly in industry and construction.

The Hindu Business Line

The Finance Minister has offered a fine blueprint of several small steps to further accelerate India’s economic growth, while sticking to the government’s commitment of waging a war against black money. The Budget has a pro-poor thrust and a clear focus on key sectors such as infrastructure, rural and agriculture, which can galvanise the economy through inclusive growth.