Government rules out taxation of income from agriculture

On the eve of the Union Budget, the government on Wednesday ruled out any taxation of farm incomes on the grounds that land ceilings have already restricted the income of the the farmers.

"Farm income cannot be taxed since agriculture is an unprofitable proposition. Earnings from the sector have been limited since land ceilings have been fixed in different states," Union Agriculture Minister Ajit Singh said in New Delhi.

Inaugurating the agriculture fair Krishi Expo in New Delhi, he said the land ceiling in Uttar Pradesh was 12.5 acres and similar limits have been fixed in different states.

In actual terms 80 per cent of the land holdings nationwide were less than five acres and not surprisingly conditions of the peasants was going from bad to worse. Shortage of electricity, compelled farmers to use tubewells in the middle of the night. They still depended on non-institutional finance and even one crop failure drove them to suicide.

Even though the government has been increasing the Minimum Support Price over the years, it did not reflect in the returns to the peasants whose plight was miserable.

He said the MSP regime was there to stay. However, ways and means will be looked into for fine-tuning the calculation. Farmers will be encouraged to diversify into the production of fruits, flowers, vegetables, fish and milk for breaking the wheat-rice cycle only if the parallel arrangement could be made for marketing and storage of perishable food items, Singh said.

The third such fair to be organised, Krishi-Expo has the theme, 'Role of Women in Indian Agriculture'.

PTI

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