Agriculture Budget – Indian Interim Budget 2009

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The focus one Aam Aadmi remains central to the budget, since 60 per cent of the Indian population lives in villages.

In the period between 2003-04 and 2008-09, the Indian Government increased Agriculture Budget allocation by a significant 300 per cent.

The Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana was launched in 2007-08 with an outlay of Rs.25 thousand crore, to increase the growth rate of the Agricultural Sector to four per cent per annum during the Eleventh Plan period. The scheme has encouraged State Governments to develop their agricultural sectors.


The focus one Aam Aadmi remains central to the budget, since 60 per cent of the Indian population lives in villages.

In the period between 2003-04 and 2008-09, the Indian Government increased Agriculture Budget allocation by a significant 300 per cent.

The Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana was launched in 2007-08 with an outlay of Rs.25 thousand crore, to increase the growth rate of the Agricultural Sector to four per cent per annum during the Eleventh Plan period. The scheme has encouraged State Governments to develop their agricultural sectors.

This has included measures to increase the flow of credit to agriculture. Credit disbursements have already gone up from Rs.87 thousand crore in 2003-04 to about Rs.2.5 lakh crore in 2007-08, a threefold increase in credit as a result of successive Agriculture Budgets. To strengthen the short-term co-operative credit structure, the Government is implementing a revival package in 25 States involving a financial assistance of around Rs.13 thousand five hundred crore, and it will continue to provide interest subvention in 2009-10 to ensure that farmers get short term crop loans up to Rs.3 lakhs at 7 per cent per annum.

The Agricultural debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme for farmers from the 2008 Agriculture Budget was implemented by June 30, 2008 as scheduled. The Scheme has been able to restore institutional credit to indebted farmers. The total debt waiver and debt relief so far, amounts to Rs.65 thousand three hundred crore covering 3.6 crore farmers.

The Interim Agriculture Budget continues the commitment ot “food security” in India. This includes meeting the food requirement of the poor under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS). In spite of higher procurement costs and higher international prices during the last five years, central issue prices under the TPDS have been maintained at the level of July 2000 in case of Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) categories and at July 2002 levels for Above Poverty Line (APL) category.

Agricultural Budgets also work to ensure remunerative prices for the farmers for their crops are fair. Since 2003-04, Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the common variety of paddy was increased from Rs.550 to Rs.900 per quintal for the crop year 2008-09. Wheat prices have increased from Rs.630 in 2003-04 to Rs.1,080 per quintal for the year 2009.

Rural Development Budget – Indian Interim Budget 2009, Rural Development Sector

The Indian Government continues to accord highest priority to rural development. A number of programmes have been designed to help improve the living conditions of the rural population. The programs designated under the Indian Interim Budget 2009 are:

(i) The Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF). The RIDF is the main instrument to channel bank funds for financing rural infrastructure, through State Governments. The corpus of RIDF was increased from Rs.5,500 crore in 2003-04 to Rs.14 thousand crore for the year 2008-09 to ensure greater availability of funds for its activities. A separate window for rural roads was created under RIDF with a corpus of Rs.4 thousand crore for each of the last three years.

(ii) Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY). Given the importance of housing for the weaker sectors of the rural population, 60 lakh houses were to be constructed under the Indira Awaas Yojana by 2008-09. In the period between 2005-06 and December 2008, 60.12 lakh houses have already been constructed.

(iii) Panchayat Empowerment and Accountability Scheme (PEAIS). The PEAIS is an existing scheme under the central sector plan which has been recognized as a powerful instrument to incentivise States to empower the Panchayats and put in place accountability systems to make their functioning transparent and efficient. The Interim Budget acknowledges the need to build in incentives for encouraging States to devolve funds, functions and functionaries and set up an institutional framework for such devolution. The Indian Government has proposed to substantially expand the scheme through State allocations.

(iv) Project Arrow. The Department of Posts has launched “Project Arrow” to revitalize its core operations and to provide new technology enabled services to both rural and urban Indians. So far this has been successfully implemented in 500 post offices in the country. This Project will receive full government support as it will enhance the services offered to India and will also lay the foundation for a vibrant delivery mechanism for many social sector schemes such as Pensions, and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).

The primary components of capital receipts include loans brought up by Government of India from public, termed as market loans. Some of the other components of capital receipts include borrowings by Government from Reserve Bank and loans obtained from foreign governments and bodies.

The primary components of capital payments include capital expenditure on acquisition of assets like equipment, machinery, land and buildings. Capital payments also include transactions in the Public Account and investments in shares.

Budget: A brief look

In a nutshell, the India Budget depicts receipts and expenses along with full details of tax revenues and other receipts. The budget also explains the revenue deficit, gross fiscal deficit and the gross primary deficit of the Central Government.

Agriculture Budget

Since the majority of the Indian population are dependent on Agriculture for their livelihood, the India Budget places an emphasis on agriculture. The main objective is to be self-sufficient in food. India also aims to offer cheaper credit to farmers as part of an ongoing scheme to bring farmers into the banking system.

The Interim Budget – India Interim Budget 2009

Indian Interim Budget 2009 – Background, Overview, Objectives And The Eleventh Five Year Plan

Revised Estimates, Indian Revised Budget Estimates 2008-2009, RE 2008-09

Indian Budget Estimates 2009-2010, BE 2009-2010, Indian Interim Budget

Tax Budget – Tax and Taxes, Indian Interim Budget 2009

Agriculture Budget – Indian Interim Budget 2009, Agricultural Sector, Rural Development Budget

Education Budget – Indian Interim Budget 2009, Education Sector

Social Sector Budget – Indian Interim Budget 2009, Social Sector

Financial Sector Budget – Financial Sector Reforms, Indian Interim Budget 2009

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India Railway Budget 2008

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