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ATM News Network: The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare which is responsible for a department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare, which implements policies and programmes related to farmer welfare and manages agriculture inputs, and Agricultural Research and Education, which coordinates and promotes agricultural research and education surrendered Rs 44,015.81 crores of funds. The ministry has surrendered these funds in the last three years, as it was unable to utilise them.
The information came to light after the Parliamentary Standing Committee report was tabled in Lok Sabha. The standing committee headed by P C Gaddigoudar has directed the ministry to utilise the funds fully. In the Demand for Grants report (2023-24) of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing asked the government to “avoid” the “practice” of the surrender of funds.
“The Committee noted 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. “That means Rs 44,015.81 crore in total have been surrendered by the department in these years.”
The Ministry has been allocated Rs 1,25,036 crore in 2023-24, 5% greater than the revised estimates for 2022-23. The Ministry of Agriculture accounts for 2.8% of the total Union Budget. About 77% of the Ministry’s estimated expenditure is allocated towards three schemes. Allocation for Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), which is the largest scheme under the Ministry has remained the same as the revised estimates for 2022-23 at Rs 60,000 crore. The allocation has been reduced from the actual expenditure of 2021-22 and the budgeted expenditure for 2022-23.
In the past 10 years, the fund utilisation of the Ministry has been above 70%. The Ministry was able to utilise 100% of the allocated funds in 2016-17. Allocation to the Ministry increased by 141% in 2019-20 on account of PM-KISAN. About 48% of the allocation to the Ministry in 2023-24 is towards PM-KISAN. However, the utilisation of funds reduced from 93% in 2018-19 to 73% in 2019-20. Utilisation was 93% in 2021-22.
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