A lot in the budget for agriculture

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s budget for 2013-14 will be remembered not only for its strategies to stimulate economic growth and control fiscal deficit, but also for the importance given to the needs of the underprivileged sections of our society.

In the field of agriculture, he has adopted the following three pronged strategy:

1. Defend the gains already made in the original green revolution areas like Punjab and Haryana: For this purpose he has proposed crop diversification in a manner that both farm ecology and farm economics are safeguarded.