Budget 2025-26: ‘Cruel and Unjustified’, Say Farmer Groups on no Legal MSP, Loan Waiver

New Delhi: The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Monday lambasted the Union Budget 2025-26 for its “cruel and unjustified” treatment of farmers’ demands for legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) and loan waiver.

In a statement, the farmers’ collective, which spearheaded the historic farmers struggle against the now repealed three farm laws, said that the Budget acknowledged the unchecked profits of the corporate sector, yet did not act to distribute the dividend among farmers, who Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned as the ‘first engine of the economy’.

SKM said the budget had “cruelly neglected” the long- pending demand for legally guaranteed MSP as per the MS Swaminathan Commission recommendations for all crops. “This needs to be critically viewed in the context of an unchecked increase in corporate profits amounted to Rs. 10, 88,000 crore in 2022-23 and rose to Rs. 14, 11,000 crore in 2023-24. The Budget is not ready to make the corporate companies liable to share a justifiable portion of their huge profit to reach the primary producers, the farmers and farm workers through stipulating a legally guaranteed market mechanisms for procurement based on remunerative price,” it said. 

On the demand for loan waiver, SKM said there was no comprehensive scheme for farmers and farm workers though a parliamentary committee had recommended it.

“During the last two years, scheduled commercial banks have written off loans to the corporates amounting to Rs. 2, 09,144 crore and Rs.1, 70,000 crore respectively. When farmers’ movement is raising the issue of 31 farmers daily committing suicide in India due to indebtedness, the Prime Minister prefers to keep silent,” said SKM.

The farmers’ group also noted that the Union Budget 2025-26 saw a reduction of Rs 5,042.06 crore in allocations towards ‘Agriculture and Allied Sector’, which slumped from Rs. 3,76,720 .41 crore in 2024-25 (Revised Estimates) to Rs. 3, 71,687.35 crore in 2025-26 (Budget Estimates). Among the schemes, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana’s allocation was cut from Rs.16864.00 crore in 2024-25 to Rs. 12,242.27 crore in 2025-26.

Talking to NewsClick over phone, Darshan Pal, president, Krantikari Kisan Union, one of the members of the SKM coordination committee, said the Centre must increase the allocation of schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to minimise rural distress and migration associated with it. 

MGNREGS allocation for 2025-26 is Rs. 85428.39 crore compared with Rs. 85279.45 crore the year before - a mere increase of Rs.148.94 crore.

Pal said, “The Budget is silent on employment generation and ending rural to urban migration. Currently, the average work days provided under MGNREGS is a mere 45 days against the promised 100 days. The demand is to ensure 200 work days with a wage of Rs.600 per day. SKM’s demand is to double the amount for MGNREGS to Rs. 1, 70,000 crore but the Prime Minister has continuously curtailed the amount for this pro-people, pro-poor scheme.”

The farmer leader said as per the Centre’s own Economic Survey 2023-34, the policies of NDA2 and NDA3 governments have not been able to shift people from the agricultural sector to manufacturing and services.

The share of agriculture in employment was 44.1% in 2017-18 and has increased to 46.1% in 2023-24, which means dependence on agriculture has increased by 2% in the last six years. At the same period, the shares of manufacturing and services in employment have declined by 0.7% and 1.4%, respectively, as per the Economic Survey. Female agricultural employment has increased from 73.2% in 2017-18 to 76.9% in 2023-24.

“The agriculture sector contributes about 16% to the country’s GDP and about 46.1% of the population depends on it for their livelihood. Even though, the Union Budget 2025-26 is neglecting Agriculture by denying remunerative prices to Farmers and remunerative wage to farm workers,” he said.

Ashok Dhawale, president, All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) said fertiliser subsidy has been cut from Rs.171298.50 crore to Rs.167887.20 crore, a cut of Rs.3,411.30 crore. Also, the hollow claim of a six-year initiative of the Atmanirbharata Mission for Pulses stands exposed when the total allocation for the Mission is a mere Rs.1,000 crore. This claim ironically comes from a government that just 10 days ago extended duty-free imports of arhar/tur and is incentivising farmers in Mozambique and other countries,” he said, adding that in 2024, imports of pulses almost doubled to 60 lakh tonnes (between January and November).

Dhawale said there was also “nothing new” in the claim that NAFED and NCCF would procure pulses for the next four years to ensure price stability.

“This only exposes the fact that the private sector will not be willing to buy at MSP,” he added.

Also, a  Dhan Dhyan Krishi Yojana has been announced claiming that it will cover 100 districts with low yields and benefit 1.7 crore farmers, but there is no separate allocation for it, the AIKS leader noted.

Dhawale said the Centre was only rehashing of existing programmes. “No allocation has been made for Price Stabilisation Fund for Rubber or for mitigation of the wild animal menace,” he added.