Nirmala Sitharaman Lists Nine Priorities Of Modi Government; Here's What's In Store For Agriculture

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday (23 July) listed nine priorities of the Narendra Modi government in her Budget speech. Here are they:

1. Productivity and resilience of agriculture

2. Employment and skilling

3. Inclusive human resource development and social justice

4. Manufacturing and services

5. Urban development

6. Energy security

7. Infrastructure

8. Innovation, research and development

9. Next generation reforms

Sitharaman said that a more detailed formulation will be carried out as part of the economic policy framework. A provision of Rs 1.52 lakh crore has been made for agriculture.

"New 109 high-yielding and climate-resilient varieties of 32 crops will be released for cultivation by farmers. In the next two years, one crore farmers will be initiated into natural farming," she said.

"10,000 need-based bio-input resource centres will be established. For achieving self-sufficiency in pulses and oilseeds, production, storage and marketing will be strengthened," she added.

"Large-scale clusters for vegetable production will be developed closer to major consumption centres. We will promote farmer producer organisations, cooperatives and startups for vegetable supply chains," she said.