The Union government has announced an economic package of Rs 1.70 lakh crore under the Garib Kalyan Yojana for the economically weaker sections of society in view of the suffering caused by the ongoing 21-day lockdown in the country to fight the coronavirus.

During the lockdown, all services except essential/emergency services, are suspended. Under the latest economic package, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the first installment from the Kisan Samman Fund will be transferred to farmers in April itself. Some people believe this is a big step to protect farmers from distress. But, Rs 2,000 from the fund was anyway due in April. So, then, what did the farmers get from the package?

Devinder Sharma, the country’s renowned agriculture, food and trade policy expert, said: “If the government was concerned about the farmers, it should have at least given Rs 6,000 from the Kisan Samman Fund. The farmers of the country are in grave distress. In April, they were anyway going to get Rs 2,000. The government could have added some more money to it. The farmer is not able to reach the market. He is not getting the right price for his produce. The government should have given some relief to the debt-ridden farmers as well.”

Under the Kisan Samman Fund scheme, the government gives Rs 6,000 per annum to about 8.7 crore farmer families in the country with a total land not exceeding two hectares each. The scheme was announced in December 2018. The government sends Rs 6,000 to the farmers’ account in three installments released every fourth month. The last installment was released in January. The government aims to gradually extend the scheme to 14.5 crore farmers.

The coronavirus outbreak has hit the farmers hard. Given that they had to face the vagaries of the weather over the past year, they are now near ruin. At present, the prices of crops like mustard, gram, wheat, masoor, cotton, etc, are way below the Minimum Support Price (MSP) at the mandis.

The farmers, like other sectors, were hoping that the government package would provide them some relief. But many are disappointed.

“Right now, even the mandi is closed. For the past couple of days, we had been hoping that the government would do something for the farmers. When it came to be known that in April, each of the farmers’ accounts would get Rs 2,000, everyone was pleased. But we found out that it was the money from the Kisan Samman fund. Since the land is in my father’s name, the money comes into his account. We already knew that the money was anyway going to come in April,” said Mohan Singh, a farmer from Rajpur in tehsil Kharidana of Madhya Pradesh’s Shivpuri district.

Singh had suffered a loss of about Rs 18,000 on March 21 because he could sell his 30 quintals of masoor at the rate of Rs 4,200 per quintal against the official rate of Rs 4,800 per quintal; he lost Rs 600 per quintal. Earlier, on March 1, he had sold 25 quintal of masoor for Rs 4,400 per quintal, at a loss of Rs 400 per quintal.

Yogendra Yadav, founder of Swarajand an expert on agricultural affairs, said, “The farmers did not get anything from the economic package. The PM Kisan Yojana money was anyway to come in April. The farmers who have taken loans on Kisan credit cards did not get any relief. They will not be able to pay in time, so they should have been exempted from interest rates. There was no announcement of any plan to tackle prices falling below the MSP. It was also not mentioned when the mandis would reopen or when the procurement of food grains would start.”

Ramandeep Mann, who vocalizes farmers’ issues through social media, said: “If the government had to help the farmers, two installments of the Kisan Samman Fund should have been announced. In such a difficult time, this would have certainly given the farmers a little help.”

Avik Shah, the convener of Jai Kisan Andolan, accused the finance minister of misleading the country in the name of relief to farmers.

“The farmers’ crops are on the fields ready to be harvested, but the government did not say how the farmers would sell their produce in the market,” he said. “Milk and poultry farmers are in distress. What the farmers earn during March-April helps them meet all their expenses for the next six months, but the government has not taken note of it in the economic package.”

The government has in the package increased the wage rate of MGNREGA to Rs 202 per day from Rs 182. This will benefit five crore families. Also, the women of poor families will be provided free LPG cylinders for three months under the Ujjwala scheme.

Under the package, an amount of Rs 500 will be sent every month for three months till June to each of the Jan Dhan accounts of 20 crore women. Besides, poor senior citizens, people with disabilities and widows will be given an ex-gratia of Rs 1,000 over the next three months.