Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled details of the Rs 20 lakh crore economic package in her press conference over four days to help the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. She said the latest programs concentrate on migrant workers, street vendors, small-scale retailers, self-employed and small farmers. While announcing Covid's final economic package tranche, Sitharaman said, "Rs 16,394 Crore has reached 8.19 crore farmers”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the package during his fifth address to the nation amid the Coronavirus pandemic. Migrants and farmers formed the core part of the announcement by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of the second announcement of the COVID special package worth Rs 20 lakh crore.
Budget For Farmers
1) For farmers, the finance minister has given Rs 30,000 crore of additional emergency working capital through NABARD over and above Rs 90,000 crore for usual refinancing.
2) Apart from this, the Center will provide a concessional Rs 2 lakh crore credit boost to 2.5 crore farmers through the Kisan Credit Card Special push.
3) To improve farming infrastructure, the government announced Rs 1 lakh crore agriculture infrastructure fund for farm-gate support, to finance agricultural infrastructure projects.
4) The government declared Rs 4,000 crore for the promotion of herbal products, which will cover 10,00,000 hectares in the next two years. It will result in the generation of Rs 5,000 crore income for farmers. The National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) will establish a corridor of medicinal plants along the banks of Ganga, taking 800 hectares of forest. It will also be developing a network of national mandates for medicinal plants.
5) The government expanded activity Greens from Tomatoes, Onions and Potatoes (TOP) to all fruits and vegetables. Operation Greens was a project aimed at stabilizing the supply of tomato, onion and potato crops (TOP crops) in India. Also, ensuring their availability throughout the region, without price volatility year-round. Rs 500 crore was allocated for that scheme.
6) The government said it would amend the Essential Commodities Act to allow farmers to realize better prices. It would deregulate agricultural food items including cereals, edible oils, oilseeds, peas, onions and potatoes.
7) Additional rupees 40,000 crores for MGNREGA will be allocated.
The Union Finance Minister said "In just 43 days an investment of a total of Rs 10,000 crore under MNREGA was made. Under MGNREGS up till May 13, 14.62 person-days of work have been produced. The average wage rate in the last fiscal year increased from Rs 182 to Rs 202.
She further added that "Nearly 63 lakh farmer loans worth Rs 86,600 were approved between March 01 and April 30. Under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund, funding for Rs 4,200 crore was given to states for rural development in March 2020.
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