In a revelation that underscores the deepening agrarian stagnation even in India’s “granary states,” official data presented in Parliament has shown that farmers in Haryana and Punjab earn no more than the starting salary of a Group D government employee. The statistics, shared by Union Minister of State for Agriculture Ramnath Thakur in the Lok Sabha, paint a grim picture of the income disparity faced by the country’s most prosperous agricultural communities.
According to the data derived from the Situational Assessment Survey (SAS) by the National Statistics Office (NSO), the average monthly income of an agricultural household stands at ₹22,841 in Haryana and ₹26,701 in Punjab. While these figures are significantly higher than the national average of ₹10,218, they remain stagnant around the pay scale of entry-level government staff (peons or sweepers), whose starting salaries often range between ₹25,000 and ₹30,000 (inclusive of allowances).
The Minister’s reply, given in response to questions by MPs including Iqra Choudhary and Dharmendra Yadav, also highlighted a severe debt crisis. Punjab and Haryana are among the states with the highest farm household debt. The average outstanding loan per agricultural family is ₹2.03 lakh in Punjab (where 54.4% of households are indebted) and ₹1.83 lakh in Haryana (with 47.5% indebtedness). In contrast, the national average debt stands at ₹74,121.
The data further broke down the income sources, revealing that a farmer’s earnings are not solely from crops. The national average income comprises wages (₹4,063), crop production (₹3,798), and animal farming (₹1,582). The revelation comes amidst growing unrest among farmer unions, who have termed the recent Union Budget “disappointing” and a “smokescreen,” arguing that rising input costs and lack of MSP guarantees are eroding real incomes despite nominal increases.