IGI Logo

Throughout 2021, Delhi and its surrounding areas saw prolonged and persistent farmers protests by groups that were demanding a repeal of the three farm laws enacted into law by the current government.

The CVoter surveys conducted during the agitation clearly indicated that people thought the government needed to do more for the farmers.

After the presentation of the Union Budget 2022-23, there seems to be a shift in the opinion of people as to how the government is handling and treating the farmers.

This was clearly revealed during the IANS-CVoter Post Budget survey conducted across the country taking into account all income segments.

When asked if the current Budget was pro-farmer, the response was not as expansively favourable as the ones related to infrastructure and financial inclusion.

But overall, it was still positive. While 28.1 per cent of the respondents felt the proposition was true to a large extent, another 34.9 per cent felt it was true to some extent. That makes it an overall majority of 63 per cent respondents feeling the Budget had good things for the farmers.

This was reinforced when the respondents were asked about the Budget decision to buy record amounts of food grains at MSP and transfer of Rs 2.37 lakh crore directly into the bank accounts of farmers.

More than 52 per cent of the respondents felt it was a very good decision while another 29.5 63 per cent said that it was a good decision though more could be done. Just about 11.5 63 per cent of the respondents seemed unhappy with the Budget announcement.

Since Assembly elections are due very soon in five states, how farmers react to the latest Budget announcements will have considerable political significance. Ever since it repealed the three farm laws in November 2021, the government has been going all out to woo the farmers.