Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman began her budget speech with the importance of higher agricultural growth, productivity and achieving rural prosperity. While the middle classes, especially the richer deciles, got substantial relief through income tax exemptions and change of slab rates, the farmers got some good promises which may help them in earning higher incomes.

Ironically, there was no reference to doubling of farmers income, which has been the dominant theme in discussions on agriculture, ever since the same was announced in an election rally in 2015. The data does not show that the incomes have doubled. In fact, the farmers of several major crops have not even been able to make even the minimum support price this year for their produce.

Founding editor of The Wire, M.K. Venu, discusses the Union Budget 2025 with Deepanshu Mohan, professor and dean at O.P. Jindal Global University.

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