Chennai, June 1: The first BJP budget which has a Swadeshi flavour is very friendly towards farmers and environment. The most important among the schemes for the farmers and the rural sector, which will have impact on the environment also, are the water supply and accelerated irrigation benefit programme and watershed development programme. The allocation for both are higher at Rs 1627 crore and Rs 677 crore respectively. The special thrust on agriculture with a Plan allocation of Rs 3000 crores and other village and women-oriented welfare measures and thrust on rural housing are definitely going to have beneficial impact on rural living standards and reduce destructive pressure on the environment.Among the direct measures for the environment sector are the higher allocation of Rs 404 crore for the Ministry of non-conventional energy sources (MNES), Rs 704 crore for the Ministry of Environment and Forests, duty reduction on bio-pesticides from 30 per cent to five per cent, 100 per cent tax concession uptoRs 5 lakh for undertaking collection and disposal of biodegradable waste, etc.
M S Swaminathan, renowned agriculture scientist and director of the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation told The Financial Express, ``the fact that the Finance Minister began his speech with agriculture, the largest private sector enterprise in this country, augurs well for the poorer section of this country.His emphasis on dry farming, micro enterprises and crop insurance scheme are steps that will go a long way in uplifting the rural economy''.
The Kisan credit card scheme as it is may be of use only to the very rich farmers. ``If only the government had plans to reach the unreached,'' he said. Swaminathan hopes that the government would spell out the measures for utilising the increased Plan allocation for agriculture and rural sector. He hailed the budgetary measure for the balanced use of fertilisers and tax concessions for bio-fertilisers.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
