Union Budget 2021 For Agriculture Sector: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today presented the first budget of this decade on 1 February. For the first time, the budget was presented digitally. While presenting the budget, the Finance Minister reiterated that the government is committed to the welfare of farmers. The Finance Minister said that major changes have been made in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system so that farmers can get one and a half times the price of their produce. In the budget, it has been proposed to impose agriculture infrastructure and development cess on some items which will be used in the development of the agricultural sector. Apart from this, the target of agricultural credit has been increased.
In the budget, he made several announcements for agriculture and allied sectors. This budget was presented at a time when the farmers are busy on the borders of the capital Delhi against the central agricultural laws. In such a situation, it was expected that the government can make announcements for the farmers.
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Announcements regarding the agriculture sector in the budget
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has proposed to implement all the states and union territories from the ownership scheme from next financial year 2021-22. Under this scheme, the owners of properties in villages are given documents of authority. So far, about 1.80 lakh property owners of 1241 villages have been given cards under the scheme.
- To provide loans to farmers as per the requirement, the target of agricultural loans has been increased to Rs 16.5 lakh crore in the next financial year. Through this, the government plans to provide more loans in the field of animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries.
- In the budget, the allocation for rural infrastructure development fund is being increased from Rs 30 thousand crore to Rs 40 thousand crore.
- The Finance Minister has proposed to put an additional 5 thousand crores in the Micro Irrigation Fund. A micro irrigation fund has been set up under NABARD for 5 thousand crores.
- The scope of Operation Green Scheme will be expanded to include 22 additional perishable products. Now it includes tomatoes, potatoes and onions. This scheme has been started to provide better prices for agriculture and allied products and to promote its exports.
- Under E-NAM, 1 thousand additional mandis will be taken.
- The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund can also be used for APMAC infrastructure.
- The Finance Minister announced in the budget that 5 fishery ports will be developed for fisheries. These ports will be developed at Kochi, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Padip and Petuaghat.
- In order to give a boost to CV production, it has been proposed to set up a multipurpose CVD park in Tamil Nadu.
- To benefit the farmers, the custom duty on cotton was increased from zero to 10 percent and on raw silk and silk yarn, it was increased from 10 percent to 15 percent.
- It will be proposed to impose agriculture infrastructure and development cess on some items. It will be used in the development of agricultural infrastructure.
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There were big announcements in the last budget
In the Budget 2020, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made a big announcement for the farmers. The PM Kusum scheme was announced keeping drought-prone areas in mind. Under this scheme, a provision was made to provide solar pumps to 20 lakh farmers in drought-prone areas of the country. Apart from this, it was announced in the budget to run Kisan Rail on PPP model. Apart from this, a 16-point action plan was kept in the budget to double the income of farmers by 2022, including PM Kusum, Kisan Rail, besides introducing farmer flights on domestic and international routes and increasing fisheries production to 20 lakhs by 2022-23 It was proposed to double the toning and milk processing capacity by 2025.