Budget 2025-26 Agri and Rural Allocations and New Missions
Why in the news
An analysis of the Budget 2025-26 found continuity in working schemes; a smaller gap between Budget and Revised Estimates hints at better implementation.
Key facts
- Agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, food processing, PDS and rural infrastructure got 3% to 6% more; Consumer Affairs fell 58% as the price stabilisation fund ended; food processing rose 33%.
- Dhan Dhanya Krishi Yojana: productivity, credit and infrastructure in 100 lagging districts.
- Rural Prosperity and Resilience Programme: tackles underemployment and migration; needs district-specific plans.
- Pulses Self-Sufficiency Mission (₹1,000 crore): tur, urad, masoor; open-ended procurement could cost ₹13,000-19,000 crore.
- Fruits and vegetables value chain (₹500 crore): extends last year’s vegetable-only effort.
- Also: seed initiative, shrimp-linked deep-sea fishing, cotton productivity and a Makhana Board in Bihar.
Concerns
- Regulated market density: Punjab 119 sq km per market, Meghalaya 11,215 sq km; all-India 487 sq km versus the 80 sq km goal of the National Farmers Commission (2004).
- The GrAM scheme needs fast processing.
Way forward
- Agriculture is a State subject, so an Inter-State Council like the GST Council is proposed.
Exam angle
- GrAM is run under NABARD.
- Market density benchmark: 80 sq km.