Anti-farmer, anti-people

GULBARGA:: Karnataka Pranta Raita Sangha (KPRS) state president Maruti Manpade described the Union Budget as anti-farmer and anti-people.Speaking to Express, he said that allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in agriculture will affect the farmers badly. Though the budget claims that it has increased the allocation from Rs 3.5 lakh crore to Rs 5 lakh crore for the agriculture sector, it will only help the agriculture industry and agriculture business and not the farmers. The Union government has continued to cut subsidies on fertiliser this year also which will directly affect the agriculture productivity leading to more incidents of farmer suicides, he said. Manpade said that Rs 19,500-crore deficit in the budget would increase inflation and the consumer has to pay a big price for it.