Tag: Piyush Goyal

The launch of the PM-KISAN scheme on Sunday for farmers was done at two separate places: one by the state government and the other one by Union Minister KJ Alphons. The launch of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme in Kerala on Sunday became embroiled in controversy as it was done at two separate places: one by the state government and the other one by Union Minister KJ Alphons. State Agriculture Minister VS Sunil Kumar lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party, saying that the launch of the scheme at another venue by Alphons was against the principles of federalism. "Kerala is not a Union Territory and the Centre should ask the state government when they organise the launch (of a national scheme). The Centre is duty-bound to inform the state and Alphons has played cheap politics," he told media after launching the programme at Kottayam. Alphons launched PM-KISAN at the Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, which comes under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), in the capital city. Local legislator Kadakampally Surendran, who is also the state Tourism Minister, was not invited to the function, nor were any state government officials. However, Alphons slammed the CPI (M), saying that its state government is adept in converting all Central programmes into programmes and projects of the Kerala government. They only want money and using it, they come out with their own schemes. Today my agenda was to meet the farmers and I did that," he told media after launching the programme in Thiruvananthapuram.

An exasperated Modi told this writer: Tell me if a Congress leader has visited a farm in the past 10 years. Were there no farming calamities then? The Congress lured farmers away from the BJP by promising to waive their loans if they came to power. While the sop may bring some relief to 100 million small farmers, the overriding feeling is that it was too little too late. It also ignored the 140 million agricultural labourers. When it came to agriculture, the Modi government made the same mistake many previous governments did. While the Modi government did make an effort in this direction, it fell far short. Whether the cash promised is sufficient to push them to vote for the BJP is doubtful. The sop would provide relief of a maximum of Rs 12,500 a year. As with farmers, even with jobs, perception matters and the government can ignore it only at its own peril.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is expected to try and shore up its political support with big ticket farm giveaways and tax cuts for the middle class in its final federal budget on Friday, months before elections. Modi is facing growing discontent over depressed farm incomes and doubts over whether his policies are creating enough jobs. Piyush Goyal, the interim finance minister, will present the 2019-20 budget to parliament, in the absence of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is currently in the United States for medical treatment. Increase in rural welfare spending The government is set to step up rural welfare spending by 16 percent for the fiscal year beginning April to 1.3 trillion rupees ($18.25 billion), two government sources said, aiming to boost support in the countryside where more than two-thirds of India's 1.3 billion people live. Stung by opposition parties' victories in three state polls in December and needing to call a national election by May, Modi has already exempted many small businesses from paying taxes under a unified goods and services tax. Change in personal tax The government is now considering raising the income level at which people need to pay personal tax, long a demand for the country's influential middle class. More than 900 million people will be eligible to cast votes in the world's biggest ever democratic exercise and the pressure to woo them is intense. His promise of a minimum income for the poor has increased pressure on the government to make populist announcements in its budget. Tax cuts may be put on hold The electoral compulsions mean that major economic reforms, such as tax cuts for bigger companies and plans to bring down the budget deficit, could be put on hold at least until after the election, government sources said. That would fit with the expectations of a Reuters poll of economists.