Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday announced the third tranche of a mega economic package aimed at uplifting the economy affected by the nationwide lockdown to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Here are the highlights of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s press conference today:
–A facilitative legal framework will be created to enable farmers for engaging with processors, aggregators, large retailers, exporters in a fair and transparent manner: FM
–A central law will be formulated to provide adequate choices to the farmers to sell produce at an attractive price, barrier-free interstate trade and framework for e-trading of agricultural produce: FM
–Government to amend the Essential Commodities Act to enable better price realisation for farmers; agriculture products including cereals, edible oils, oilseeds, pulses, onions, and potatoes to be de-regulated: FM
–Operation Greens to be extended from Tomatoes, Onions and Potatoes (TOP) to all fruits and vegetables (TOTAL): FM
–National Medicinal Plants Board will bring 800-hectare area by developing a corridor of medicinal plants along the banks of river Ganga: FM
–Rs 4000 crore allocated for promotion of herbal cultivation; 10,00,000 hectare will be covered in the next 2 years: FM
–Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund of Rs 15,000 crores will be set up: FM
–National Animal Disease Control Programme for Foot and Mouth Disease and Brucellosis launched with a total outlay of Rs 13,343 cr: FM Nirmala Sitharaman
–Govt to launch the Rs 20,000 crore Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana for development of marine and inland fisheries. 55 lakh people expected to get employment from this program: FM
–All COVID19 related deadline extensions relating to fisheries activities, many of them involving overseas contracts, have been honoured. Very many measures which will help marine and coastal farmers have been undertaken as promised: FM
–Government introduces a Rs 10,000 crores scheme for the formalisation of Micro Food Enterprises (MFE); the scheme promotes PM’s vision of ‘Vocal for Local with global outreach’: FM
–Government to immediately create a Rs 1 lakh crore Agri-Infrastructure Fund for farm gate infrastructure for farmers: FM
–During COVID lockdown period, the demand for milk reduced by 20-25%. A new scheme to provide interest subvention at 2% per annum to dairy cooperatives for 2020-21. The scheme will unlock Rs 5000 cr additional liquidity, benefit to 2 cr farmers: FM
–During lockdown period Minimum Support Price purchases of amount more than Rs 74,300 crores; PM Kisan fund transfer of Rs 18700 cr: FM Nirmala Sitharaman on additional steps for agriculture during COVID19
–I will be announcing 11 measures today, of which 8 of them relate to strengthening infrastructure, capacities and building better logistics, while the rest 3 will pertain to governance and administrative reforms: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
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