Farmers cry foul, says govt. funds don't reach us

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) [India], Feb 1 (ANI): Despite the government making tall claims in the annual budget for 2017-18 to provide relief to the farming community, the farmers on the other hand complained that they don't even receive the full amount sanctioned by the ruling dispensation. Stating that they receive only one-fourth of the amount sanctioned by the government, a farmer in Bhopal alleged that the corrupt authorities take the money instead of providing it to them. "The announcements are being made, schemes are there for us, but we the farmers cannot avail the full advantage of the same as the money which is supposed to come to us is stolen by the corrupt official. We only get one-fourth of the allotted amount. The budget should have had a provision through which the farmers should directly get the money," said one of the farmers. Echoing similar sentiments, another farmer said they never get any profit of the government schemes. "The government makes announcements, but we do not get profits. The government sanctions money, but the authorities who are meant to bring that money to us indulge in corruption. We never get the full amount," he said. The fourth Budget of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government laid major focus on agricultural economy and farmers' welfare. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the plan is to allow for an agricultural credit of Rs 10. lakh crore. The Union Government will focus on increasing the credit flow to under-served areas. Announcement of computarisation for NABARD and allocation of Rs 9,000 crore for the Fasal Bima Yojana has been announced in the Union Budget besides several announcements on soil health cards. The Finance Minister also allocated Rs. 8000 crore for dairy processing fund. At the same time, Jaitley also announced that the government will give the highest ever allocation for NREGA to Rs 48,000 crore. The Finance Minister noted the agriculture sector is expected to grow at 4.1 percent. He added the micro-irrigation fund will be created with a corpus of Rs. 5000 crore. The government will also set up a dairy processing fund of Rs. 8,000 crore over three years with initial corpus of Rs. 2,000 crore. (ANI)