Nirmala Sitharaman speech highlights: Third tranche offers Support to farmers along with Governance Reforms

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FM Nirmala Sitharaman announced the third tranche of the mammoth Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package today.

The eleven measures announced today dealt with upgrading farm infrastructure, animal husbandry & fisheries and governance reforms. The finance minister said that the three tranches of stimulus announced so far is aimed at empowering people to help them become self-sufficient and earn livelihoods.

The finance minister, flanked by MoS Anurag Thakur and secretaries in the finance ministry, started her daily rounds of press conference from Wednesday unveiling the Modi government's mega Covid stimulus of Rs 20 lakh crore.

During her first interaction on Wednesday she focussed on the MSME sector, NBFCs and power discoms. India Inc welcomed the measures announced for the beleaguered MSME sector saying that they will mitigate the pain and help in saving jobs.

The second set of relief measures were announced on Thursday particularly aimed at migrant workers and urban poor. The finance minister announced free ration for those who do not have a ration card in the states they are residing. She also announced a single ration card that will be applicable across the country. Also, incentives for providing rental accommodation for migrant workers were announced the press conference on Thursday.

She also rolled out a special credit facility worth Rs 5,000 crore for street vendors and offered concessional credit through Kisan Credit Cards to small and marginal farmers. The extension of Credit linked Subsidy Scheme till March 2021 will provide a Rs 70,000 crore booster shot to the affordable housing segment.

Key Takeaways


The third tranche deals with framers, food processing and allied activities. Eleven measures have been announced today. Eight are related to strengthening infrastructure, the rest three will deal with governance and administrative reforms.

Also, in the last two months, the government took following steps to provide relief to agriculture and dairy sector:

·                      Rs 74,300 crore of purchases based on MSP happened during lockdown.

·                      Rs 18,700 crore transferred to farmers under PM Kisan.

·                      Under Fasal Bima Yojana, Rs 6,400 cr claims processed

For Animal Husbandry:

Dairy industry was under severe difficulty. Around 560 lakh litres of milk per day was procured by Co-operatives. Rs 5,000 crore additional liquidity has been transferred to dairy farmers. A total of 111 crore litres of milk was procured.

New scheme utilised for interest subvention for 2% for dairy farmers. Additional 2% for prompt service.

 

New Announcements:

For Upgrading Infrastructure


1. One lakh crore fund for strengthening the farm gate infrastructure like cold chains, post harvest storage infrastructures etc.

2. Rs 10,000 crore fund for micro food scheme will be executed with cluster based approach. Will benefit 2 lakh Micro Food Enterprises. For instance, Bihar can have Makhana cluster, Kashmir can have Kesar cluster, Telangana can have Turmeric cluster, Andhra can have Kesar cluster, Telangana can have Turmeric cluster, Andhra can have chilli cluster.

3. Govt will launch Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana for development of marine and inland fisheries. Rs 20,000 crore will be spent to fill the gaps in value chains. This will lead to an additional fish production of 70 lakh tons in next five years and provide employment to 55 lakh people.

4. Rs 13,343 crore for vaccination of livestock in India to eradicate foot and mouth disease.

5. Rs 15,000 crore will be spent on ramping up the dairy infrastructure. Also, investments will be made in cattle feed.

6. Rs 4,000 crore for growing of herbal and medicinal plants. Ten lakh hectares of land will be used for growing medicinal and herbal plants and will provide income of nearly Rs 5,000 crore for farmers.

7. Rs 500 crore have been allocated for beekeeping. This will help 2 lakh beekeepers.

8. TOP to TOTAL: Rs 500 crore for Operation Greens that will be extended beyond tomatoes, potatoes and onion and will applicable to all vegetables.

Governance Reforms:


9. Propose amendment to Essential Commodities Act to enable better price realisation for farmers. Food stuffs including edible oils, oil seeds, pulses, onions and potato will be deregulated. And stock limits will be imposed only under exceptional circumstances like famine and surge in prices.

Agriculture Marketing Reforms:


10. A central law will be formulated to provide

·         Adequate choices to sell produce at attractive price.

·         Barrier free inter-state trade.

·         Framework for e-trading of agriculture produce.

Agriculture Produce Price and Quality Assurance


11. Facilitative legal framework will be created to enable farmers for engaging with processors, aggregators, large retailers, exporters etc. in a fair and transparent manner. Risk mitigation for farmers, assured returns and quality standardization shall form integral part of the framework.

 


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