Soil remedies Fertiliser reforms are good for farmers P RAJU By taking tough decisions now on MRP and subsidies, the Government will ensure better times to follow September 10, 2014: The Prime Minister unveiled a five-point agenda for ushering in a technology-led second green revolution in India. One of these is the issuing of a soil health card (SHC) to every farmer, with recommendations for fertiliser use. But will this help address the persisting imbalance in fertiliser use? Though the Economic Survey recognised the seriousness of the problem, the Budget was silent on any policy steps to address it. To get maximum crop yield from fertiliser use and maintain soil health, a farmer needs to apply all three major nutrients,...
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Category: Alternative policy scenario
A fertiliser plant closing near you
After netting the carryover subsidy from FY13, just Rs.30,000 crore is left in FY14 for fertiliser subsidies Finance minister P Chidambaram has achieved a fiscal deficit of 5.2% of GDP for 2012-13, thereby redeeming government’s commitment to contain it within the 5.3% target—though the latter, by itself, is higher than the 5.1% provided for by Pranab Mukherjee in the last Budget. Further, true to exhortations he made during his road-shows to demonstrate that India is serious about fiscal consolidation, he has budgeted the deficit at 4.8% during 2013-14. He also intends to reduce it to 3% by 2016-17. The achievement is more fortuitous rather than being a result of credible efforts made on ground zero. A substantial compression in Plan...
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Urea pricing – Government must walk the talk
About six months back, the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) had recommended that the MRP of urea be raised by 10 per cent. However, this was stoutly opposed by the Fertiliser Minister. Even the Agriculture Minister, who is Chairman of the Group of Ministers on urea pricing and other related issues, is not favourably disposed towards this proposal. However, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is keen to accept the CoS recommendation. Having taken some baby steps (diesel price, etc), he would like to do more to bolster the reform credentials of the UPA Government. POLICY STEPS For close to five decades, the Government has kept urea under pricing and distribution control. In the 1950s and 60s, it operated a Central Fertiliser...
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Fertilisers policies pull in opposite directions
The Union Budget for 2012-13 generated huge expectation about the Union Government’s keenness to reduce ballooning subsidies that have been a major source of its fiscal targets going awry. The then Finance Minister promised to contain the total subsidy bill within 2 per cent of the GDP in the current fiscal and at 1.75 per cent in the next three fiscals. However, there is little to show for any credible action plan in this regard. The recent measures to restrain subsidies in diesel and LPG are too little and too late. As far as fertilisers go, the powers-that-be have not even demonstrated a basic intention to walk the talk. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has recently approved a meagre...
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