December 16, 2024 19:02 (IST)
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Union Budget 2016: Government aims to double farmers' income by 2022
New Delhi, Feb 29 (IBNS) Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, while presenting the Union Budget 2016 on Monday, said the central Government intends to go beyond food security and give back a sense of income security to Indian farmers.
In this regard,the central government intends to double the farmers’ income by 2022.
The finance minister said he has allotted Rs 35,984 crore for agriculture and farmers’ welfare.
He said that the government intends to address issues of optimal utilization of water resources, create new infrastructure for irrigation, conserve soil fertility with balanced use of fertilizer and provide connectivity from farm to market.
During the presentation, Jaitley said that out of 141 million hectares of net cultivated area, only about 65 million hectares are irrigated.
In this regard, he announced ‘Pradhan Mantri Sinchai Yojana’, to be implemented in a mission mode to bring another 28.5 lakh hectares under irrigation.
He said that 89 projects under AIBP will be fast tracked, which will help to irrigate another 80.6 lakh hectare.
He promised to complete 23 of these projects before March 31, 2017. These projects require Rs17,000 crores next year and Rs 86,500 crore in the next five years.
Jaitley also announced the creation of a dedicated Long Term Irrigation Fund in NABARD with an initial corpus of Rs. 20,000 crore.
A similar progrmme for sustainable management of ground water resources, with an estimated cost of Rs.6,000 crores has been proposed for multilateral funding.
He also said that allocations under MGNREGA will be used for creating at least 5 lakh farm pond and dug wells in rain fed areas and 10 lakh compost pits for organic manure production.
In the Union Budget 2016, the target for Soil Health Card Scheme is to cover 14 crore farm holdings by March, 2017. This will help farmers to make judicious use of fertilizer. The minister said that 2000 model retail outlets of fertilizer companies will be provided with soil and seed testing facilities in the next three years.
He announced a policy to convert city waste to compose under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Fertilizer companies will co-market these compost .
Jaitley announced the ‘Parmparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana’ for bringing 5 lakh acres of rain fed areas under organic farming.
He launched a scheme ‘Organic value chain development in North East Region’ to make their organic produce find domestic and export markets.
Number of pulses districts under National Food Security Mission has been increased to 622.
The minister announced that a Unified Agricultural Marketing E Platform will be dedicated to the nation, on the birthday of Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar on April 14.
He also said that, the completion target of ‘Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana’ will be advanced from 2021 to 2019, to connect the remaining 65,000 eligible habitations.
The minister announced three specific initiatives to ensure MSP reaches to all the farmers. First, the remaining states will be encouraged to take-up decentralized procurement. Second, an online Procurement System will be undertaken through the Food Corporation of India. Third, effective arrangements will be made for pulses procurement.
In the Budget, four new initiatives were announced to make dairying more remunerative to the farmers. First, ‘Pashudhan Sanjivani’, an animal wellness programme and provision of Animal Heaalth Cards (‘Nakul Swasthya Patra’). Second, an advanced breeding technology. Third, Creation of E-Pashudhan Haat, an e-market portal for connecting breeders and farmers. Fourth, a National Genomic Centre for indigenous breeds. He said that these projects will be implemented at a cost of Rs. 850 crore over the next few years.
The Union finance minister announced an allocation of Rs. 2.87 lakh crore as Grants in Aid to Gram Panchayats and Municipalities (up 228% compared to previous five years) as per the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission.
He said that every block in areas of drought and rural distress will be taken up under the ‘Deen Dayal Antyodaya Mission’. These districts would also be taken up for priority under ‘Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana’.
Jaitley announced that 300 Rurban Clusters* will be developed under the ‘Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission’ to incubate growth centre in rural areas by providing infrastructure amenities and market access for the farmers.
He committed to achieve 100 percent village electrification by May 1, 2018. He proposed to make priority allocation from centrally sponsored scheme, to reward villages that have become free from open defecation.
In order to spread digital literacy in Rural India, the minister has approved two new schemes viz. ‘National Digital Literacy Mission’ and ‘Digital Saksharta Abhiyan’ (DISHA).
He proposed to launch a new Digital Literacy Mission Scheme to cover around 6 crore additional households, revamped under Digital India initiative and to be implemented as a Central Sector Scheme with effect from April 1, 2016. This will be critical for dispute free titles.
He proposed a new structure scheme, ‘Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan’ to help Panchayat Raj Institutions deliver Sustainable Development Goals.
* Rurban Clusters are growth clusters being developed by the Union government across the country - several contiguous villages that have the economic capability but need outside support ranging from infrastructure to digital literacy to realise their full potential.
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