Business News/ Budget / In 6 charts: Budget report card on climate, agri, and price volatility
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Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for 2025-26 on Saturday. The Budget presents a chance for the government to show its intent on some of the burning issues of our times. In this four-part series, we use charts to illustrate how the Budget performed on 15 key concerns.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for 2025-26 on Saturday. The Budget presents a chance for the government to show its intent on some of the burning issues of our times. In this four-part series, we use charts to illustrate how the Budget performed on 15 key concerns.
This part looks at climate change, agriculture, and volatility in prices of essentials. Each topic has a pair of charts—one presenting the context the Budget faced, and the other showing what Sitharaman delivered.
This part looks at climate change, agriculture, and volatility in prices of essentials. Each topic has a pair of charts—one presenting the context the Budget faced, and the other showing what Sitharaman delivered.
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Climate change
India is increasingly experiencing the effects of climate change, with extreme weather events disrupting livelihoods and food security. This has heightened calls for the Union Budget to play a larger role in climate action. While environment ministry allocations have grown over the years, actual spending has often lagged behind Budget estimates.
Agriculture
India’s agricultural sector faces mounting challenges as erratic rainfall—driven by climate change—disrupts sowing and harvesting cycles. At the same time, farmer protests over policy decisions, particularly the demand for a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP), have intensified. Despite these pressures, farm sector growth has slowed, even as agriculture spending has exceeded ₹1 trillion in recent years.
Price stability
India’s battle with inflation has been complicated by sharp fluctuations in vegetable prices, especially tomatoes and onions. Tomato inflation has been particularly erratic, making policy interventions challenging. To counter this, the government leverages the Price Stabilization Fund, which allows it to purchase key commodities at high prices and sell them at subsidized rates.
A higher budget allocation for this fund would strengthen its ability to cushion consumers from price shocks.
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