Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmer Welfare, rural development and Panchayati Narendra Singh Tomar has termed this year’s Union budget as the first inclusive budget of the decade.
Tomar said the Budget has removed all apprehensions in people’s minds about the new farm laws. “In this Budget, the Government has reinforced its commitment to minimum support price (MSP) and made a provision to empower mandis. I hope that farmers ‘ organisations will now consider the matter positively after their doubts have been allayed.”
In his response to the Budget, Tomar said, “It has taken care of every section and every sector. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we are moving towards building a healthy and strong India. This Budget will pave the way for moving in that direction.”
He said that the Budget has an underlying theme of an Aatmanirbhar India and provisions have been made to speed up the development of the nation in the aftermath of the Coronavirus pandemic. Tomar said that the Budget’s success is evident in the positive response from the market and every section.
The agriculture minister further said: “The Budget proposal for 2021-22 is based on six prinicipal pillars. These include health and prosperity, creation of physical and financial capital and infrastructure, re-enerizing human capital, innovation and R&D, inclusive growth for aspirational India and minimum government and maximum governance.”
Tomar says, mandis have been included in the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat campaign. “This will further empower the mandis and develop large infrastructure. In the agriculture sector, where farmers were earlier able to get annual loans up to Rs 7 lakh crore, under the Modi government the amount has risen to Rs 16.5 lakh crore.”
Tomar said that more 1,000 Mandis in the country will be linked as part of the e-Nam Mandi scheme. The micro irrigation fund under Nabard has been doubled to Rs. 10,000 crore and agriculture and allied products and their exports will be promoted in the Operation Greens scheme.
He said that so far 1.80 lakh villagers of 1241 villages across six states have been given ownership of their houses under an ambitious ownership scheme by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj. He said the scheme will be a milestone in empowering villages and self-sufficiency.
WITH IANS INPUTS
