‘Nothing For Our Welfare’: Farmers Respond to Budget 2021

“We hoped that government will reduce our electricity and diesel costs. They did nothing”: Yogendra from Saharanpur.

The number of farmers who benefited increased in 2021 to 43.36 lakh as compared to 25.57 lakh in 2019-2020, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Union Budget 2021.

(Photo: The Quint)

Video Producer: Hera Khan

Video Editor: Abhishek Sharma

"This Budget is useless. There's nothing in it for farmers," said Ajay Malik, a farmer from Saharanpur district in Western Uttar Pradesh.

Malik is among the lakhs of farmers protesting against the Union government's farm laws.

The Quint spoke to a number of farmers at the Ghazipur protest site on Delhi's North Eastern border and asked them what they thought of the Budget.

"We hoped that the Budget would reduce the electricity costs for farmers. That hasn't happened," said Krishna Pal Gujjar, a farmer from Hapur in Uttar Pradesh.

"We had hoped that the government will reduce our electricity bill and make diesel cheaper. The government did nothing," said Yogendra, a farmer from Saharanpur.

Yogendra Singh, Hapur district president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, called the government anti-farmer.

“When we elected this government, we hoped that they would give payment for our sugarcane harvest. They did nothing. The farmers are protesting but Prime Minister Narendra Modi hasn’t uttered a word. What can be more anti-farmer than this.”

Yogendra Singh, BKU

MSP the Main Issue

Almost all the farmers The Quint spoke to said that the main issue is Minimum Support Prices.

"The government is not assuring MSP. We had to sell our harvest at Rs 1000 per quintal instead of Rs 1,700 that had been promised," Gujjar said.

"All farmers want is a respectable price for our produce. We aren’t asking for charity,” Ajay Malik said,

Farmers had hoped that keeping in mind the protests, the government would announce something special for them but they say that hasn’t happened.

“Farmers are protesting, the government could have done something to help farmers. They did nothing to reduce our electricity or fuel costs. They said nothing on MSP,” said Sunil Nagar, a farmer from Greater Noida.