Despite the grievances of rubber growers, the Union Budget presented on Tuesday appears to have given the Rubber Board plenty to cheer about.
According to officials, the agency received an enhanced allocation of ₹320 crore, surpassing the revised estimate of ₹268 crore for the current fiscal. M. Vasanthagesan, Executive Director of the Rubber Board, said on Tuesday that the Board had already received approval for an annual expenditure of ₹348.38 crore from the Expenditure and Finance Committee.
“To obtain the remaining amount, we will seek a revised Budget estimate later this year based on the progress of various schemes. The components of the annual plan will be explained to stakeholders shortly,’’ he said.
According to official sources, the funds will be utilised to support schemes rolled out by the Union government ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in April. These include a special package for rain-guarding and anti-fungal spraying, as well as financial support for Rubber Production Societies. Additionally, the Board has increased its support to growers in the traditional rubber-growing regions of Kerala and Tamil Nadu by raising the planting assistance from ₹25,000 to ₹40,000 a hectare.
No incentive
However, growers remain dissatisfied, feeling let-down by the Budget’s failure to ensure a minimum price for natural rubber. “There is nothing new in this Budget, just allocations for already announced schemes. Our demand for the Union government to implement a production incentive similar to the State government’s scheme has been ignored,” said Babu Joseph, general secretary of the National Consortium of Regional Federations of Rubber Producers Societies India.
K. Francis George , who represents the Kottayam Lok Sabha segment, too emphasised that the government could have easily raised the basic price of rubber to ₹250 a kg.
