Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has given details of the allocation of Rs 20 lakh crore announced by PM Modi by holding a third consecutive press conference today. In the press conference held today, he has stressed on the work related to farmers and farming and has said to spend money on many schemes related to them.
But if we talk about the impact of these announcements, then it is clear that the entire focus is on the infrastructure related to agriculture, through which the income of farmers is to be increased. But the question is that how will anyone who has suffered damage due to the ongoing lockdown caused by the corona virus be repaid. The answer to this question has not been received by the Center yet
Things have been announced today by the Finance Minister. If they are implemented properly, then it will take at least two years to have its effect and to avail these schemes, loans will have to be taken from the amount released today. That is, people who are already suffering losses are being asked to give loans again.
Despite the Corona crisis and lockdown, there is a record production of grain this year. According to the third advance estimate of production of major crops for 2019-20 released by the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, the total grain production in the country is expected to be a record 295.67 million tonnes.
This is 10.46 million tonnes more than the production of 285.21 million tonnes of grain during 2018-19. There is no discussion on how much the farmers’ income has increased instead. At least it could be said that bonuses should be given to the farmers. For the time being, how strong the agricultural economy will be with these schemes will be seen.
The Finance Minister said that in order to increase competition and investment in the agriculture sector, a change has been made in the Essential Commodities Act since 1955. Central law will be made for this. With this help, barrier-free inter-state trade will be possible for the farmers. But even before this, agricultural products were excluded from essential commodities, but as soon as the prices of those things increased, they were then brought under the purview of this act.
Apart from this, a provision of Rs 15,000 crore has been made for Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund, 13,343 crore for National Animal Disease Control Program, Rs 4,000 crore for Herbal Cultivation, Rs 500 crore for promotion of beekeeping.
Operation greens made for tomatoes, onions, potatoes will now be applicable to all fruits and vegetables. This will be called the ‘Top to Total’ scheme, for which a provision of Rs 500 crore has been made. Apart from this, it has also been announced to spend 1 lakh crore rupees in agricultural infrastructure.
