DNA Special: "Fake News has become a matter of concern in the country," says MoS Finance Anurag Thakur

The country's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday presented the Union Budget 2021. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that in the midst of the Corona crisis, this is a Budget to boost expectations. However, a section of the public has expressed some disappointment over the Budget. Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur, in an exclusive interview with Zee News editor-in-chief Sudhir Chaudhary, spoke about the Budget and the growing problem of fake news. 

Anurag Thakur said, "Fake News has become a matter of concern in the country. I was the chairman of the IT committee of Parliament for 5 years. I called and talked to PCI and NBA many times. Most of the owners in both institutions are only members. I called them up several times and said that if the owners are only the members of the two organizations, then who will take action against them. Should there be no accountability of the media? Digital media has also been added to this."

'Every person has to think about it'

Anurag Thakur said, "The government cannot take action in this matter because the government gives everybody the freedom of expression." He said, "There should be reforms in these media institutions, this has to be done somewhere. If an MP wrongly tweets, doesn't even apologize, lives in arrogance, insults the President, then there will be talks on that too. I think this is a big question in front of the country, about which all people will have to think."

'1 lakh crore recovery in last 4 months'

Anurag Thakur said that the Modi government has worked on a mantra from day one and that is 'jaan hai, toh jahan hai'. We also saved the country from COVID, and also slowly revived the economy. Here the death rate due to corona is the lowest in the world. After this, when the government brought the 'Aatmnirbhar package', the economy returned to track. In the last four months, more than Rs 1 lakh crore GST was recovered.

Talking about the farmers' movement, Anurag Thakur said, 'We will prepare the infrastructure for the farmers. The UPA government gave Rs 3 lakh 75 thousand crore on MSP to the farmers, while the Modi government gave more than double - Rs 8 lakh crore to the farmers. The talk of the closure of Agricultural Mandis (APMC) is a lie. In the last one year, one thousand APMC has been improved. They have been linked to digital platforms. This will double the income of farmers."

'MNREGA budget increased to Rs 73,000 crores'

Anurag Thakur said that the budget of MNREGA was Rs 30,000 crore in the Congress government, we have increased it to Rs 73,000 crore. The Kisan Samman Nidhi was zero at the time of Congress. We have kept a budget of Rs 65,000 crores for that. The purchase of wheat increased by 73 per cent, the purchase of paddy increased by 114 per cent. Purchase centres were doubled. With the implementation of the three agricultural laws, the income of the farmers will double in the next 2-3 years. Rs 1 lakh 10 thousand crore was distributed to 9 crore farmers of the country that carried 50 per cent of the cost of the farmers.