Budget 2021: 43.36 lakh wheat-growing farmers benefited from govt procurement under MSP, says FM

Budget 2021: 43.36 lakh wheat-growing farmers benefited from govt procurement under MSP, says FM

The Centre is committed to farmers' welfare, says Nirmala Sitharaman amid uproar from the opposition benches

FPJ Web DeskUpdated: Monday, February 01, 2021, 01:00 PM IST
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Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday commenced presentation of Budget 2021–22 in the Lok Sabha.

"The central government is committed to the welfare of farmers," she said amid uproar from the opposition benches.

Even as the Opposition continued to shout slogans against the three contentious farm laws recently passed by the Centre, Sitharaman pointed out that agricultural procurement has increased steadily and benefited farmers.

"43.36 lakh wheat-growing farmers [have] benefited from government procurement under MSP as against the 35.57 lakh previously," she said.

Farmers have been paid Rs 75,100 crore on wheat MSP in the 2021 fiscal, Sitharaman pointed out, adding that MSP procurement will continue at a steady pace.

She added that 1,000 more mandis will be integrated with e-Nam.

The ruling BJP hopes that this Budget will provide relief to the rural poor, farmers, and the middle class facing the wrath of the pandemic.

The BJP is hopeful of several major announcements in this Union Budget that will provide relief to the common man. There may also be announcements related to further simplifying the Goods and Services Tax (GST) process.

Between December 2020 and January 2021, the BJP had interacted with people in different regions across the country and sought their demands related to the Budget. The acquired information was then made available to Sitharaman. The Union Finance Ministry is expected to have included the necessary suggestions in the Budget.

Officials in the food industry to the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector had said that raw material prices are increasing rapidly, which is also increasing inflation. The BJP had given suggestions to Sitharaman to work on options for controlling inflation.

The Union Finance Ministry had earlier been requested to take the initiative to further simplify the complex GST process. The BJP also gave many suggestions regarding disinvestment, suggesting to the Finance Ministry to emphasise on resource generation.

The state units of the BJP too had sent their suggestions after consulting the stakeholders, which were conveyed to the Finance Minister.

The Union Budget 2021–22 is expected to provide relief to the pandemic-hit common man as well as focus more on driving economic recovery through higher spending on healthcare, infrastructure, and defence amid rising tensions with neighbours.

As India emerges from the COVID-19 crisis, the ninth Budget under the Modi government, including an interim one, is expected to focus on boosting spending on job creation and rural development, generous allocations for development schemes, putting more money in the hands of the average taxpayer, and easing rules to attract foreign investments.

Sitharaman who had, in her first Budget in 2019, replaced the leather briefcase that had been for decades used to carry budget documents with a traditional red cloth 'bahi-khata' stated earlier this month that the Budget for the fiscal year beginning April will be "like never before."

It has to be a vision statement, a road map to get the world's fastest-growing major economy back on track, she had said.

Notably, farmers have been protesting at different border points of the national capital since 26 November 2020 against the three newly enacted farm laws: Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

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