Modi govt's 144% hike in agri spend not enough to quell India's farm unrest

The farming community is still struggling to cover the cost of cultivation leave aside make any income or profits

Agriculture has got an unprecedented 144% rise in allocation in the interim budget announced by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government--from Rs 57,600 crore in the 2018-19 budget estimates to Rs 1,40,764 crore in the interim budget.

This took the share of the agriculture ministry in the total union budget to 5.2%, a benchmark succeeding governments will be compelled to match for political reasons. For context, the share has been around 2.3%-2.4% since 2014-15, when the BJP came to power.

However, this unprecedented hike in allocation will be inadequate to fight the