Union Budget has ‘nothing’ to farmers: NAFSCOB chairman

K M Dayashankar

HYDERABAD: National Federation of State Cooperative Banks (NAFSCOB) chairman Konduru Ravinder Rao has expressed his displeasure over the Union government for neglecting the core agriculture sector and the farmers.

“I am very much disappointed because no announcement has been made for the agriculture sector. All our expectations have been shattered”, Mr Rao said, who is also chairman of Telangana State Cooperative Apex Bank (TSCAB) and Karimnagar District Cooperative Central Bank (KDCCB).

 Stating that the farmers were badly affected following the pandemic virus, he said that in spite of the Covid lockdown, it was farmers and the farm sector which had contributed for the GDP in the country. Ironically, there was not a new announcement made to bail the farm sector, he said.

In a press statement here on Thursday, he found fault with the government for not providing any incentives for the mechanization of the farm sector and reduce the production cost and added that there was no waive-off plan for the farmers’ loans in the budget. Alleging that the prices of fertilizers have doubled during the past few years burdening the farmers, he flayed the government for not taking any measures to bail out the farmers by reducing the prices of fertilizers.

Contrary to the expectations, the government had not announced any new plans and policies to strengthen the cooperative sector, he alleged and demanded that the government should exempt the tax from the farming activities of the cooperative banks as they were catering to the financial needs of the small and marginal farmers.

The only saving grace was the allocation of only Rs 900 crores in the Union Budget and the special focus has been given for training, education, and digitalization of PACs, he stated.

hindudayashankar