Brajesh Jha (Professor, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi): The budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the financial year 2024-25 is an interim budget. According to the interim budget, it is not very populist. The amount under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Yojana has not been increased in this budget. The budget for MG NREGA has also not been increased. This is a visionary budget because it talks about promoting infrastructure, innovation and green growth.
Talking about agriculture sector, after the success of Nano Urea, the government has talked about the use of Nano DAP. The second important thing is the announcement of self-reliant oilseeds. Earlier there was no talk of MSP for pulses and oilseeds. In many places, farmers were not able to avail the benefits of MSP for pulses and oilseeds. But this time it has been said that whenever the government purchases oilseeds from farmers, it will give them MSP. The government has taken this very right step for the farmers. Micro food processing has also been talked about in the budget. We have more number of marginal farmers in farming here. Such farmers need work other than farming, so for this it is necessary to promote micro food processing, so that the farmers get employment in the village or around the village. The government has also talked about promoting dairy and fisheries. The activities and work which were already happening in these areas will continue. But the very important thing that the government has done through the budget is vaccination for mouth and foot disease. Milk production in the country is greatly affected by foot and mouth disease. Talking about fisheries, it has been promoted a lot in the last 10 years. There is also talk of setting up five integrated aqua parks to further expand this area.
Budget It has also been said about promoting Lakhpati Didi. Lakhpati Didi is basically a women’s self-help group, for which the government has set a target of profit of one lakh rupees per year. Countless women benefit from this group. The government said that so far one crore women have been benefited. By joining this group, marginal farmers and other villagers, even if they do not have land, can still earn money by doing some of their work. This is a kind of cottage industry, which requires skill. There is no need for many machines in this.
The Finance Minister has said something very important regarding the Prime Minister’s Housing Scheme. In the last seven-eight years, three crore people have got houses under this scheme, the government aims to prepare two crore more houses in the next five years. With this, while the hardworking laborers engaged in building houses on a small scale will get money, the homeless will also get houses. Instead of promoting populist things in the budget, work has been done to speed up the already ongoing development works. Overall, this is a positive and visionary budget. This will promote agriculture and rural development.