As expected, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while presenting the fifth budget of the Narendra Modi led government on Thursday tried to address rural distress and reasserted Narendra Modi government's commitment to double farmers' income by 2022.
As expected, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while presenting the fifth budget of the Narendra Modi led government on Thursday tried to address rural distress and reasserted Narendra Modi government's commitment to double farmers' income by 2022.
"Our government has worked sincerely for various reforms without keeping the political angle in mind. My government is committed to the welfare of the farmers. Agriculture is an enterprise and encouraging farmers to earn more," Jaitley said.
The government has earmarked Rs 2,000 crore fund to be set up for upgrading rural agri-markets, claimed the Finance Minister.
In a major bonanza to farmers, Finance Minister announced fixing support price of Kharif crops like paddy at least 50 per cent higher than the cost of production, while raising farm credit target for the next fiscal by 10 per cent to Rs 11 lakh crore.
Jaitley said the government has decided to fix the minimum support price (MSP) of coming Kharif (summer-sown) crops, which include maize, soybean, and pulses, at least one-and-half times the cost of production.
He said the MSPs of most of rabi (winter sown) crops have already been raised. He said the government will ensure farmers get MSP even if prices fall, for which Niti Aayog will discuss with state governments the putting in place of an institutional mechanism to ensure that farmers get better prices for their produce. Jaitley said the NDA had promised that farmers will be offered at least 50 per cent more than the cost of production and the government is sensitive towards this.
The Finance Minister said: The MSP of all crops shall be increased. Agri-Market Development Fund with a corpus of 2000 crore to be set up for developing agricultural markets.
Arun Jaitley claimed that crop production is at record high and govt is committed to giving 50% more than the cost of crop production to farmers. India produced over 275 million tonnes of foodgrains and 300 million tonnes of fruits and vegetables in 2016-17, Finance Minister said.
Extending support to bamboo sector FM Arun Jaitley said: Restructured National Bamboo Mission to be launched with an allocation of Rs. 1290 crore to promote the bamboo sector in a holistic manner. Also, Rs 500 crore will be allocated for Operation Green.
Cluster-model approach for agricultural production will be adopted and efforts are being made to boost food processing, specialised agro-processing, said FM during the budget speech.
Rs 14.34 lakh crore to be spent for building rural infrastructure, Arun Jaitley announced.
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