Arun Jaitley calls for increasing agricultural productivity

 Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said agricultural productivity should increase for the welfare of the people residing in the rural areas, and added that the government is committed to increasing the area of irrigation for the same.

He also stressed on the need to increase investment in the building of infrastructure and on improving medical services. "Increase in agriculture productivity is essential for welfare for rural population; we should commit to increase irrigation area. Agricultural incomes are under stress; therefore we have to increase investment in infrastructure. Providing medical facilities to each one of village and city is essential," Jaitley said during his Budget speech in the parliament.

Jaitley further emphasized on giving impetus to domestic manufacturing in order to generate employment. "Two thirds of our population is below 35, to ensure employment we have to aim to make India the manufacturing hub. The manufacturing has declined from 18 percent to 17 percent of the GDP," Jaitley said. "Roof for each family in India, to fulfill Housing by 2022, we must build two crore houses in rural India, four crores in urban areas," he added.