Union Budget 2020-21 proposes 16-point action plan to boost agriculture & farmers’ welfare

Union Budget 2020-21 has proposed a 16-point action plan to boost agriculture and farmers’ welfare. It also aims at doubling farmers’ income by 2022. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said this while presenting the Union Budget in Lok Sabha today. She said, the budget is aimed at boosting the income of people and enhancing their purchasing power.

Comprehensive measures for 100 water-stressed districts have also been proposed in the Budget. The agricultural credit target has been set at 15 lakh crore rupees. Twenty lakh farmers will be provided funds for setting up standalone solar pumps. Farmers will also be allowed to set up solar units on barren and fallow lands and supply power to grids. Youth and fishery extension work will be enabled by rural youth as Sagar Mitras, forming 500 fish farmer producing organizations.

Nirmala Sitharaman said, Indian Railways will set up Kisan Rail through PPP arrangement for transportation of perishable goods. She added that Krishi UDAN will be launched by Civil Aviation Ministry on international and national routes. It will improve value realization in North East and tribal districts. The Finance Minister further said, financing on Negotiable Warehousing Receipts will be integrated with e- National Agricultural Market. NABARD Refinancing Scheme will be further expanded, and agri credit target for the year 2020-21 has been set at 15 lakh crore rupees.

Budget 2020 provides an additional 69,000 crore rupees for the health sector. The Finance Minister proposed to expand Jan Aushadhi Kendras in all districts of the country to provide medicines at affordable rates. She announced a 99,300 crore rupee outlay for education sector in 2020-21 and 3,000 crore rupees for skill development.