Union Budget farmer friendly, PM Modi devoted to their welfare: Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday hailed Union Budget 20-21 as agriculture sector friendly and lauded Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi for his devotion towards the welfare of farmers.

"PM has been working for the welfare of farmers from day one. Numerous efforts were made to double the farmers' income, taking this link forward...Ensuring Minimum Support Price at one and a half times the cost shows the commitment of the Modi government," Shah said in a tweet.

He also talked about the allocation of fund in the budget for providing loans easily to the farmers.

"The Modi government has set aside a fund of Rs 16.5 lakh crore in this year's budget to provide loans easily to farmers of the country. The micro-irrigation fund has also been doubled which will boost the agriculture sector. 5 agricultural hubs will also be built in the country."

Shah further said that the procurement of paddy crop at MSP has been doubled for the year, which has benefited 1.5 crore farmers of the country.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced an Agricultural Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) to conserve agricultural output and improve infrastructure in the Union Budget 2021-22 on Monday.

The Finance Minister also announced an enhanced allocation to the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund from Rs 30,000 crore to Rs 40,000 crore. She further proposed to double Micro Irrigation Fund, started with a corpus of Rs 5,000 crore under (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) NABARD, by augmenting it by another Rs 5,000 crore.

In order to boost value addition in agriculture and allied products and their exports, Sitharaman also proposed to increase the scope of 'Operation Green Scheme' that is presently applicable to tomatoes, onions, and potatoes (TOPS), to be enlarged to include 22 perishable products.

( With inputs from ANI )