Unable to utilise, Agriculture Ministry surrendered over Rs 44,000 crore of its budget: Report

The Department of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare has surrendered over Rs 44,000 crore of the total budget allocated to it in the last three years, as it could not utilise it fully, according to Parliament Standing Committee report tabled in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

According to an Indian Express report, the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing, headed by P C Gaddigoudar requested the government to "avoid" the "practice" of surrendering funds, in its Demand for Grants (2023) report.

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The report mentioned that the reason for the surrendering of funds is mainly owing to less requirement of funds for schemes that are meant for the SC/ST communities, mainly under NES (North Eastern States), SCSP (Schedule Caste Sub-Plan) and Tribal Area Sub-Plan (TASP) components,

A total of Rs 44,015.88 crore in total has been surrendered. “The Committee note from the reply of the Department that funds have been surrendered amounting to Rs 23,824.54 crore, Rs 429.22 crore and Rs 19,762.05 crore during 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 (tentative), respectively,” the report stated.

“The Committee feels that the practice of surrender of funds must be avoided by all means henceforth so that the tangible benefits accrued from the schemes are allowed to percolate to the ground level in an optimum manner,” it stated. “The Committee, therefore, recommends the Department to identify reasons leading to surrender of funds and take corrective measures to ensure that the funds are utilized fully and efficiently.”

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The report also noted that the budget allocation for it has gone down from 4.41 per cent in 2020-21 to 2.57 per cent in 2023-24. The allocation for the ministry in the budgets of 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24 stood at 4.41 per cent, 3.53 per cent , 3.14 per cent and 2.57 per cent respectively.

“The total Budget outlay of the Central Government in 2020-21 was Rs 30,42,230.09 crore, which increased to Rs 45,03,097.45 crore in 2023-24. Taking into account the prominent role played by agriculture in rural livelihood, employment generation and food security of the country, the Committee recommend the Department to take up the issue of budgetary allocation in percentage terms out of Central Pool with the Ministry of Finance and ensure that trend is reversed from the next Budget onwards,” the report said.

The department was also tasked by the committee to investigate the causes of insurance firms' delays in paying claims under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. Additionally, it urged the department to take the required actions and work together to find the best solutions so that they could be included in best practises that would be widely adopted and would greatly increase the credibility of PMFBY among farmers.