THE PROMISE IS OVER

There is no more talk of doubling farm incomes, and while the emphasis on green farming is good, the sops continue with no clear future roadmap

- ANILESH S. MAHAJAN

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious agriculture reforms hitting a dead end with the repeal of the contentious farm laws, one might have expected Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget presentation to open a new front in this effort. However, though her presentation was peppered with talk of improving agriculture via technology, by using drones, promoting chemical-free farming—and an emphasis on farms in a five-kilometer-wide corridor along the river Ganga—it stopped short of reiterating the promise to double farmer incomes.