After the stupendous victory in recently held General Elections, the National Democratic Alliance, in its second inning is most likely to deliver some tenable solutions promised to the rural voters. After all, Modi and his advisors have now discerned that the threat to agriculture, if not addressed expeditiously will eat into its vote bank. The rural voters, keeping aside the understanding of their neglect by the government in the last five years and non-fulfilment of promises made in the manifesto of NDA in 2014 elections, favoured Modi over others. The fact that at many places, the villagers did not let the Bhartiya Janata Party candidates enter their villages to address public meetings is a testimony to the disdain of people for the local candidates. Albeit, the victory of the party with an increase in vote share reflects the faith people have reposed in only Mr. Modi, leader of the party.It is common sense that the revival of rural income is important not from long term perspective but is imperative taking cognizance of the impending assembly elections in many states especially in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir later this year.
Finally, the revival of agricultural income is vitally important to trigger growth in other sectors as agriculture is the growth engine of the economy. The automobile (both passenger and commercial) and FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) sector get immensely affected by the fluctuations in income of rural poor.
The rural voters have exceptionally high hopes from Modi government in second inning. Though Congress laid a lot of stress on the holistic development of rural India and announced fancy scheme NYAY (Nyuntam Aay Yojna) to woo the marginalised rural voters, it did not touch a chord with the target audience.
Modi was able to convince rural voters that only he can deliver and now, his second term is the litmus test of his credibility. Will he actually deliver what he promised? Let’s recall the proposed promises to the voters in hinterland. NDA in its 2019 Lok Sabha Election Manifesto had promised to provide short-term new agriculture loans up to Rs 1 lakh at zero percent rate of interest for 1-5 years. In its Sankalp Patra, BJP announced to spend Rs 25 lakh crore in next five years on agriculture development in next five years, if voted to power.
The party also pledged to expand the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna to all farmers. It was launched as an annual financial support of Rs 6000 to farmers owning less than 2 hectare. The Kisan Fasal Bima Yojna, that is compulsory for all is promised to be made voluntary in the 2019 manifesto. Evidently, the party think-tank had taken into consideration the bottlenecks in the implementation of the scheme at a mass scale.
The party also pledged to expand the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna to all farmers. It was launched as an annual financial support of Rs 6000 to farmers owning less than 2 hectare. The Kisan Fasal Bima Yojna, that is compulsory for all is promised to be made voluntary in the 2019 manifesto. Evidently, the party think-tank had taken into consideration the bottlenecks in the implementation of the scheme at a mass scale.
