The Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, which comes under the Agriculture Ministry, surrendered Rs 44,015.81 crore of its budget during the last three years, as it could not fully utilise its allocation, according to a Parliamentary Standing Committee report tabled in Lok Sabha on Monday. In its report on Demand for Grants (2023-24) of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing, headed by P C Gaddigoudar, asked the government to “avoid” the “practice” of surrender of funds. “The Committee note 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 report said the surrender of funds by the ministry is mainly on account of “less requirement” for the schemes meant for welfare of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities. “The Committee has been informed that the surrender of funds is mainly on account of less requirement under NES (North Eastern States), SCSP (Schedule Caste Sub-Plan) and Tribal Area Sub-Plan (TASP) Components,” it noted. “The Committee feels that the practice of surrender of funds must be avoided by all means henceforth so that the tangible benefits accrued from the schemes are allowed to percolate to the ground level in an optimum manner,” it stated. “The Committee, therefore, recommends the Department to identify reasons leading to surrender of funds and take corrective measures to ensure that the funds are utilized fully and efficiently.” The report also highlighted that the department’s budgetary allocation as percentage to the total budget of the Centre has come down from 4.41% in 2020-21 to 2.57% in 2023-24. “The Committee notes that the Department has admitted in its replies that the proportion of Budgetary Allocations made in favour of the Department in terms of the percentage out of the total budget of the Government of India during the years 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24 stood at 4.41%, 3.53% , 3.14 % and 2.57% respectively,” the report said. It stated, “The total Budget outlay of the Central Government in 2020-21 was Rs 30,42,230.09 Crore, which increased to Rs 45,03,097.45 crore in 2023-24. Taking into account the prominent role played by agriculture in rural livelihood, employment generation and food security of the country, the Committee recommend the Department to take up the issue of budgetary allocation in percentage terms out of Central Pool with the Ministry of Finance and ensure that trend is reversed from the next Budget onwards,” it said. The committee also asked the department to look into the reasons for delay in settlement of claims by insurance companies under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. It also asked the department to take necessary measures and make concerted efforts to address them in the best possible manner so that they are counted in best practices to be adopted globally and enhance the credibility of PMFBY among the farmers manifold.
