To Double Farmers' Income by 2022, Agriculture Sector Will Have to Grow at Whopping 12%: Manmohan Singh

New Delhi: Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Wednesday cast aspersions on the government’s aim of doubling income of farmers by 2022, saying that it is not possible unless the growth rate in agricultural sector touches 12 per cent per annum.

The Economic Survey of India, presented two days ago, had pegged agricultural growth at 4.1 per cent in the current fiscal. This was up from a sluggish 1.2 per cent in drought-hit 2015-16, it said.

Pointing out how big a challenge it would be, Singh said, “Unless we achieve the growth, the second part (doubling of income) will only be a hollow assurance.”

“Real issue is whether farm crisis is a thing of the past, and if not, what is the strategy to deal with the farm crisis?” Singh added.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced various measures to generate higher income, produce more from same land, and realise higher price, and measures centered around farm and non-farm income. But the big-ticket reform was the hike in minimum support price to 1.5 times the production cost.

Singh, however, was not impressed and questioned if the government had any plan for the implementation. He refused to talk about the political implications of the Budget in view of the upcoming state elections, but said that there needs to be a detailed discussion on crucial issues like fiscal discipline.

“The budget was high on projecting a bright picture but how will that be sustained. The government had earlier assured they would reduce the deficit, but in today’s speech, it seems that was forgotten and the deficit target was increased,” he said.