Yogendra Yadav described the budget of Nirmala Sitharaman as "Zero Budget" for the farmer
New Delhi: Describing Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman's first budget as “Zero Budget”, Swaraj India President Yogendra Yadav expressed regret that for the farmer this budget neither has any new allocation, nor any data, nor any new direction and nor any new plans. This was the first budget in the country's history in which the Finance Minister did not mention any of the budget items. The reason for not mentioning budget items in the speech was exposed when the amount allocated for each item was seen in the schedule of the budget - it was found to be exactly the same as the interim budget presented in February 2019. Avik Saha, National Convenor of Jai Kisan Movement said that if the Finance Minister had to do this, then what was the need for a new budget?
Re-presenting the February budget again in July is a cruel joke on farmers. Swaraj India expresses great disappointment that changed circumstances and facts that have emerged in the meantime were not kept in mind by the Finance Minister. Rather than improve the condition of farmers, by increasing tax on diesel, she imposed a new burden on them.
- The Prime Minister had announced that the income of farmers would be doubled in 6 years. So far 3 years have passed. The government could have at least informed how much farmer's income has increased till now and what is the plan to double the income in the next 3 years. Instead of sharing this information, the Finance Minister repeated the empty-talk of doubling farmers' income.
- Farmers had hoped that the amount of Rs.6,000 under PM AASHA Scheme would be increased. At least the benefit of the Scheme would be extended to landless farmers who cultivate on contract and lease. The demand of farmers' movements was always that this money should be deposited in account of a woman in the beneficiary farming household. But the Finance Minister did not even mention this Scheme in her speech and retained the sum Rs.75,000 crore already allocated in February 2019. This is very surprising because in the meantime the Government has increased the number of beneficiaries of this Scheme and the Prime Minister himself said after the budget speech that Rs.87,000 crore has been allocated to this Scheme.
- In the Economic Survey released yesterday, it has been acknowledged that farmers are forced to sell 71% of their crops at rates below MSP. The day before, the Government has increased the MSP of Kharif crop. Every farmer had hoped that they would at least get MSP for their crops. For this, it was necessary for the Government to allocate at least Rs. 50,000 crore rupees in the budget under PM AASHA. The Finance Minister did not do this.
- This year, there is possibility of widespread drought in the country. There is 25% deficit in monsoon and sowing has fallen by 15%. In this situation, it was expected that the Government would increase the allocation to National Disaster Relief Fund to deal with drought. It was expected that crop loss compensation would be enhanced from Rs.4,700 per acre to at least Rs.10,000 per acre. It was also expected that PM Fasal Bima Yojna would be modified so that farmers could easily get claims in the event of loss. Regrettably, the Finance Minister remained silent on such a big question.
- In the last few months, news of stray cattle causing heavy loss to farmers has been steaming in from all corners of the country. Farmers had hoped for special financial grants to deal with this and had expected the Government to make appropriate arrangements. The Finance Minister remained silent on this issue.
Instead, the Finance Minister repeated old schemes like E-NAM, Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojna (renamed Zero Budget Farming) fisheries etc. but failed to mention why, even in these schemes, the Government has reduced budget allocations rather than increase it.
Anupam, who leads the National Youth Movement named Yuva Halla Bol said that this was a disappointing budget for unemployed youth who are suffering a record breaking 45-year-high unemployment rate. At a time when jobs are being lost across the board in all sectors rather than being created, there was a need to take concrete steps to deal with this crisis.
Till Lok Sabha elections, the Government was unwilling to accept that there is unemployment crisis in the country or that the economy is distressed. The Modi government tried hard to suppress its own NSSO report; in protest the chairman of the Statistical Commission had to resign. When this report came out through the media, some BJP leaders dubbed it as "Fake News". But after the election was over, the government accepted the same survey of NSSO and released it officially. The RBI Chief has now accepted that there is a decline in the economy, which has been confirmed by the Economic Survey released yesterday, which downgraded the growth rate to 7%. Therefore, there was expectation that the government would address the issue of slowing down of the economy and rampant unemployment, through this budget.
But Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not mention any plans for the creation of employment in the budget speech. Although she mentioned the National Education Policy, she did not touch upon the main dimensions of the policy like doubling of the budget for education learning in five years or extending right to education from 3 years to 18 years.
Rather than making any concrete proposal, the Finance Minster said that foreign students would be welcomed under "Study in India" and Indian students would be trained in subjects like Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Robotics so that they could find employment abroad. She proposed a new TV program that would be run for and with startups in the country. Unfortunately, the Finance Minister did not say anything on minimum wages in the un-organised sector, or employment in the medium and small scale sector, or in the automobile sector, tractor industry or FMCG sector. She remained silent on urban employment guarantee scheme and about filling up the 24 lakh vacancies in government posts.
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Rajnath to top commanders: Outmaneuver adversaries with strategic surprise
Jaipur/New Delhi (PTI): Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday directed the top military commanders of the three services to integrate an "element of surprise" into modern warfare to outmaneuver India's adversaries and bolster strategic posture.
In his address at the joint commanders conference in Jaipur, Singh also described the Operation Sindoor as a testament to the "swift, precise, and joint response" of the Indian armed forces to safeguard national interests and called upon the military to remain ready to deal with any security challenges.
In their two-day deliberations, the commanders carried out a comprehensive review of the combat preparedness of the military in the wake of the evolving regional security situation.
Operation Sindoor was a demonstration of India's growing capabilities and a symbol of the nation's collective resolve and new military ethos, Singh said, a day after the first anniversary of Operation Sindoor.
He also unveiled a 'Joint Doctrine for Integrated Communication Architecture' that is aimed at strengthening doctrinal clarity, interoperability and integrated communications across the armed forces in future multidomain operations.
The joint commanders' conference, themed 'Military Capability in New Domains', brought together the top leadership of the defence ministry and the three services to deliberate on emerging security challenges and future readiness.
Comprehensive deliberations were held on future warfare, multidomain operations, technological transformation and joint capability development.
The conference witnessed extensive discussions on cognitive warfare, cyber resilience against evolving quantum and AI-enabled threats, military capability development in emerging domains, indigenous innovation and AI-enabled warfighting concepts.
It was attended by Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi, Chief of the Army Staff Gen Upendra Dwivedi, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal AP Singh and Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh among others.
In his remarks, Singh asked the commanders to remain "future-ready" by learning from the operation as well as the current global security landscape.
He underscored the need to strengthen capabilities in artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, data analytics and secure communication networks to stay prepared in the rapidly evolving geopolitical security scenario. He emphasised that future conflicts will increasingly be shaped by hybrid threats, information dominance and operations conducted simultaneously across cyber, space, electromagnetic and cognitive domains, according to an official readout.
Highlighting the transformative impact of emerging technologies, Singh stressed on the importance of ensuring integrated national preparedness across all spectrums of conflict, it said.
Singh's remarks at the conference came a day after the first anniversary of Operation Sindoor.
The defence minister appreciated the progress achieved in enhancing jointness, integration and technological adoption across the three services, the readout noted.
Singh said that jointness constitutes a pivotal dimension within the transformative changes sweeping across the global defence sector.
"Future wars will not be won solely through weaponry, but through innovative thinking and enhanced synergy," he said.
The defence minister exhorted the commanders to cultivate the "element of surprise" to remain unpredictable to the nation's adversaries and secure a strategic edge in any given situation.
He, however, urged them to remain vigilant of the element of surprise of the enemy and always stay two steps ahead.
Singh also reiterated the Narendra Modi government's commitment to enhancing the capabilities of the defence forces through state-of-the-art weapons and platforms. He added that special focus is being laid on research in niche domains.
During the conference, he released a documentary film on Operation Sindoor.
The film reaffirms the nation's and defence forces' commitment to operational preparedness and decisive national response capabilities.
Demonstrations of advanced systems and platforms developed for intelligence fusion, operational planning and information management were also showcased during the conference reflecting growing integration of cutting-edge technologies into joint operational structures, according to the defence ministry.
The discussions will contribute significantly towards shaping India's future military transformation and integrated operational preparedness, it said.
