Will Finance Minister P Chidambaram come out with a farmer-friendly Budget on February 28?
Farmers and agriculture has been one major area, which failed an India, which is growing fast forward to become a top economic player in the world.
India's Five Year programmes and the decade-old reforms agenda, launched during P V Narasimha Rao's stint as the Prime Minister, also failed to reach the agriculture fields of country.
An India shining without its majority of population farmers - joining the celebrations is not a growth India wants at present. If India has to take big leaps in development, it has to take its agriculture sector along with it.
But sadly the situation is alarming in agriculture sector.
At last count, 659 debt-ridden farmers had committed suicide in Vidarbha since July 2006.
The government has not procured enough wheat, abandoning much of the task to private traders. The grumbling about rising prices of essential food items is loud and clear.
When Finance Minister P Chidambaram stands up in Parliament to present his Budget on February 28, he should certainly spare a thought for the farmers of India, if he wants to take India forward.
According to eminent economists, Budget 2007 is a good time to begin the uplift of agriculture sector.
D K Joshi, director and principal economist with the rating agency Crisil, says that the government could start by reducing custom duties on essential commodities. "The step could ease the domestic supply flow and also help curb price rise," he told Commodity Online.
There should also be focus on increasing productivity. "Per hectare agricultural production in India is low, compared to China, which more or less has the same area under cultivation. Allocation for irrigation should be increased. Irrigation projects are not completed in a day but a beginning can be made," Joshi said.
R L Pitale, agricultural economist and former member of the National Commission on
Farmers, agrees. "The government should develop infrastructure on 'build, operate,
transfer' basis," he said.
"Roads can be built and irrigation projects can be introduced. The Budget should have provisions for this," Pitale told Commodity Online.
Both economists also spoke about the need to improve facilities for storing agricultural produce.
"Huge quantities of vegetables and fruits are wasted every year. The government should put in money to improve the facilities. This can be done through a public-private partnership," Joshi said.
Pitale said that the government could create budgetary provisions for exporting agricultural produce.
"There should be a budgetary provision for marketing surplus production outside the country. This way the gap between a farmer's income and expenditure could be narrowed," Pitale suggested.
Last week, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had expressed concern over the ban on exports of commodities such as pulses, oilseeds, wheat, maize and milk powder.
On the export-import policy, Pawar said: "Time has come to introduce an open policy." The farmers should have the option to sell their produce within the country or outside, Pawar added.