AGENCY, NEW DELHI: Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday outlined a slew of measures to boost agricultural production and the rural economy, announcing new projects as well as enhanced support for existing schemes to the tune of Rs14.34 lakh crore in the Union Budget 2018.
Agriculture and the rural economy was the first subject Jaitley focussed on in his speech as he presented his last full budget ahead of the general elections scheduled for 2019.
Besides generating employment, this investment will lead to a construction of 3.17 lakh km of roads, 51 lakh new houses, 1.88 crore toilets, and will provide electricity connections to 1.75 crore new households, the minister said in his budget speech.
Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar hailed the budget as one for ‘New India’ and for the overall inclusive development of the country.
The total budgetary allocation for the Rural Development Ministry increased marginally to Rs 1.124 lakh crore for the financial year 2018-19 from Rs 1.054 lakh crore in the current fiscal and the total expenditure estimated to be incurred by ministry in the current fiscal is at Rs 1.09 lakh crore.
“The govt is committed to the overall development of the country and like the current year, the Modi govt has allocated highest ever amount of Rs 55,000 crore to the MNREGA for the next fiscal,” Tomar said.
The government allocated the highest ever amount to MNREGA at Rs 55,000 crore for the year 2018-19 as compared to Rs 48,000 crore allocated in the current year.
The expenditure incurred on the scheme in the ongoing year is estimated at Rs 55,000 crore.
The allocation to the various schemes under National Social Assistance Programme also rose to Rs 99.75 crore from Rs 95 crore last fiscal. The allocation for the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, the Centre’s flagship scheme for roads in rural area has been allocated Rs 19,000 crore for 2018-19, same as the last budget.
While making the proposals in this year’s budget, the government was guided by its mission to strengthen agriculture and rural development besides other sectors of the country’s economy, Jaitley stressed.
Jaitley also announced an increase in the allocation for the National Rural Livelihood Mission to Rs 5,750 crore in 2018-19 from Rs 4,500 crore.
The loans to women Self Help Groups increased to about Rs 42,500 crore in 2016-17. The government is confident that loans to SHGs will increase to Rs 75,000 crore by March next year, the finance minister said.
Meanwhile, the allocation for rural housing scheme PMGAY (Gramin) came down marginally to Rs 21,000 crore for the year 2018-19 from the Rs 23,000 crore in the last budget.
AGRICULTURE: In a major bonanza to farmers, the government said today that support prices for the upcoming Kharif crops like paddy will be fixed at least 50 per cent higher than the cost of production, while raising farm credit target for the next fiscal by 10 per cent to Rs 11 lakh crore.
In an effort to take agriculture out of stress, it also announced a slew of measures such as setting up two separate funds amounting to Rs 10,000 crore for building infrastructure in sectors such as fishery, aquaculture and animal husbandry.
Besides, it allocated Rs 2,000 crore for setting up agri- market infra fund and Rs 1,290 crore for a national bamboo mission as also Rs 500 crore for ‘operation green’ to check volatility in tomato, onion and potato rates and Rs 200 crore to encourage medicinal and aromatic crops cultivation.
Presenting a pro-farmer Union Budget 2018-19, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley reiterated the government’s commitment to welfare of farmers saying that the emphasis is to generate higher income for farmers.
Prime Minister Modi has given a clarion call to double the farmers’ income by 2022, he added.
Jaitley said the govt considers agriculture as an “enterprise” and wants to help farmers produce more from the same land parcel at lesser cost and, simultaneously, realize higher prices for their produce.
On farm credit, Jaitley said: “Our govt has been steadily increasing the volume of institutional credit for agriculture sector from year-to-year from Rs 8.5 lakh crore in 2014-15 to Rs 10 lakh crore in 2017-18. I now propose to raise this to Rs 11 lakh crore for the year 2018-19.”
The budget has proposed to extend the facility of Kisan Credit Cards to fisheries and animal husbandry farmers to help them meet working capital needs.
Jaitley said lessee cultivators are not able to avail of crop loans at present and as a result a significant proportion of arable land remains fallow and tenant cultivators are forced to secure credit from usurious money lenders.
