Budget 2023: FM Nirmala Sitharaman holds a pre-budget meeting with stakeholders of agri and agro-processing industry

Budget 2023: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired her third Pre Budget 2023 consultation with the experts of agriculture and representatives of the Agro Processing industry in New Delhi, on Tuesday. The finance minister has scheduled pre-budget meetings with leaders from various domains this week.

In today’s meeting, the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh demanded that either the farmer should get the benefit of input tax credit or the input material of the farmers should be excluded from GST. 

They even requested that subsidies given to companies in the name of farmers should be sent directly to farmers in the form of Direct Benefit transfers. One of their major demands included a change in the budget allotted for agriculture and farming. The budget should be increased for irrigation and for connecting rivers, demanded the representatives of farmers.

As requested by the farmers, they want that crops like tea, coffee, spices, rubber, and coconut should be brought under the Ministry of Agriculture. Moreover, they also put up the demand to bring cow-based organic products into the budget.

The budget should be increased for the research on cows and goats that could aid in farming, they said. Requests have also been made to allow incentives for farmers who use green energy. They also demanded to increase in the limit of Kisan Credit Cards that can be used as FSSAI licenses.

Opposition parties in Rajya Sabha during the last Union Budget session severely criticized the government for leaving out the majority of the poor in its Budget 2022-23 and not offering enough for the farm sector, despite India being an agro-based economy.

TRS leader K R Suresh Reddy backlashed the government and said, “The year 2022 was the year to double the farmers' income...You reduced Rs 10,000 crore for procurement (of agricultural produce). The policy of procurement (agricultural produce) is vague. Farmers sow crops in December and you assure them to tell them about the procurement plan in March. Growing crops is not a SWIGGY service. Farmers need time. "