|
|
|
You can get e-magazine links on WhatsApp. Click here
|
|
|
|
|
|
Budget – 12 major steps
|
|
Tuesday, 13 August, 2024, 14 : 00 PM [IST]
|
|
Piruz Khambatta
|
In the first Budget of Government 3.0, Finance Minister has covered almost the entire spectrum of initiatives any government can take for the historic development of the nation. Though I believe that the growth target taken by the government is pretty conservative, I am sure that with the approach of Public Private Partnership between the government and industry in almost everything, this target can be easily surpassed. I definitely believe, we can touch around 9% growth and if the headwinds are correct on the global side, then almost 10%. I am happy to note that Government is going full swing to support industry in these efforts.
I would, especially, like to hail the government’s initiatives in employment generation, skill development, ensuring that the CSR money can also be used for hiring interns, digitisation of land records, setting up exports and e-commerce hubs, setting up weekly haats, focus on MSMEs with credit guarantee schemes, focus on ease of doing business, focus on reducing compliance burden, increasing the threshold limit for appeals under income tax, reforms in the land sector, setting up special funds for climate action, no angel tax, lesser income tax for the salaried and so on are all positive steps. The fiscal deficit is fairly under control, which is also a good thing which will ease interest rates going further and also ease inflation.
Luckily, the Budget also focused majorly on food, agriculture and allied sectors.
The Budget has taken 12 major steps for boosting food, agriculture and allied sectors. I would like to now take you to each of these 12 major steps.
1. Transforming agriculture research
- Government will undertake a comprehensive review of agriculture research setup to bring focus on racing productivity and developing climate resilience varieties.
- Funding will be provided in challenge mode including private sector, domain experts both from government and outside will oversee conduct of such research.
- Focus on 109 climate resilience varieties will be released of crops for farmers: New 109 high-yielding and climate resilient varieties of 32 field and horticulture crops will be released for cultivation by farmers. In the next two years, one crore farmers will be initiated into natural farming supported by certification and branding.
- Implementation will be through scientific institutions and gram panchayat. Some 10,000 need-based bio input resource centres will be established.
2. Mission for pulses and oilseeds:
- For achieving self-sufficiency in pulses and oilseeds government will strengthen the production storage and marketing as announced in interim Budget a strategy is being put in place to achieve atmanirbharta, for oilseeds such as mustard groundnut, sesame, soybean and sunflower.
3. Vegetable production and supply chains:
- Large-scale clusters for vegetable production will be developed closer to major consumption centres. Government will promote FPOs, cooperatives and startups for strengthening vegetable supply chains including collection and storage and marketing.
4. Digital public infrastructure for agriculture
- Buoyed by the success of the pilot project government in partnership with states will facilitate the implementation of the digital public infrastructure in agriculture for coverage of farmers and their lands in 3 years.
- Digital crop survey using the DPI will be taken up in 400 districts the details of 6 crore farmers and their lands will be brought into their farmer and land registries.
- Further the issuance Jan Samarth based kisan credit cards will be enabled in five states.
5. Shrimp production and export –
- Financial support for setting up a network of nucleus breeding centres for shrimp brood stocks will be provided.
- Financing of shrimp farming, processing and export will be facilitated through NABARD.
6. National cooperation policy –
- Government will bring out national cooperation policy for systematic orderly and all-round development of cooperative sector.
- Fast tracking growth of rural economy and generation of employment opportunities on large scale will be policy goal.
Priority 4: Manufacturing & Services 7. Food Irradiation, Quality & Safety Testing
- Financial support for setting up of 50 multi-product food irradiation units in the MSME sector will be provided.
- The government will facilitate setting up of 100 food quality and safety testing labs with National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL)
Priority 5: Urban Development
8. Street Markets
- Street markets: Building on the success of PM SVANidhi Scheme in transforming life of street vendors, government envisions a scheme to support each year over the next 5 years the development of 100 weekly haats or street food hubs in select cities.
Priority 7: Infrastructure
9. Flood mitigation and Irrigation
- Through the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme and other sources, government will provide financial support for projects with estimated cost of Rs 11,500 crore such as the Kosi-Mechi intra-state link and 20 other ongoing and new schemes including barrages, river pollution abatement and irrigation projects.
Priority 9: Next Generation Reforms
- The government will initiate and incentivise reforms for (1) improving productivity of factors of production, and (2) facilitating markets and sectors to become more efficient. These reforms will cover all factors of production, namely, land, labour, capital and entrepreneurship, and technology as an enabler of improving total factor productivity and bridging inequality.
- Effective implementation of several of these reforms requires collaboration between the Centre and the States and building consensus, as development of the country lies in development of the States. For promoting competitive federalism and incentivising states for faster implementation of reforms, earmark a significant part of the 50-year interest-free loan.
10. Land-related reforms by state governments
- Land-related reforms and actions, both in rural and urban areas, will cover (1) land administration, planning and management, and (2) urban planning, usage and building bylaws. These will be incentivised for completion within the next 3 years through appropriate fiscal support.
11. Rural land related actions
- Rural land related actions will include (1) assignment of Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) or Bhu-Aadhaar for all lands, (2) digitisation of cadastral maps, (3) survey of map sub-divisions as per current ownership, (4) establishment of land registry, and (5) linking to the farmers registry. These actions will also facilitate credit flow and other agricultural services.
12. Taxes • On some brood stock, shrimp and fish feed will be reduced from the current 10% and 15% respectively to 5%: India’s seafood exports in the last financial year touched an all-time high of more than ? 60,000 crore. Frozen shrimp accounted for about two-thirds of these exports. To enhance their competitiveness, government has proposed to reduce BCD on certain broodstock, polychaete worms, shrimp and fish feed to 5 per cent. Government also proposes to exempt Customs duty on various inputs for manufacture of shrimp and fish feed.
I am absolutely sure that the 12 very notable steps taken by the government would further accelerate the growth in food and agriculture sector, which will have huge ramifications on Indian economy, as we all will agree inclusive growth is the correct prescription for growth of a country like India where almost 60% of the people live in rural areas.
(The author is chairman, Rasna Group, and chairman,
CII Affirmative Action Committee)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|