Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Highlights Big Budget Increase for Farmers and Youth Programs
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, during her reply to the budget debate in Parliament, highlighted significant increases in the budget for farmers and new programs for youth employment.
Increased Budget for Farmers
The budget for the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has increased five times from Rs 21,934 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 1.23 lakh crore in 2024-25. More than Rs 3.24 lakh crore has been disbursed to 11 crore farmers under the PM Kisan scheme since its launch.
Institutional Credit and Interest Subsidies
Institutional credit targets for agriculture have increased from Rs 8 lakh crore in 2014-15 to Rs 20 lakh crore. The interest subsidy for farmers has also increased from Rs 6,000 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 14,252 crore.
Support for Small and Marginal Farmers
The number of small and marginal farmers availing of agricultural loans has increased from 57 percent in 2014 to 76 percent now.
Minimum Support Price (MSP) and Criticism of UPA Government
Sitharaman criticized the previous UPA government for not implementing the National Commission on Farmers’ recommendation to set the MSP at 50 percent more than the weighted average cost of production.
PM Yuva Package for Youth
The government has introduced a special PM Yuva package, which includes five schemes to make youths independent and capable.
Employment Data
According to RBI data, the labor force participation rate has increased from 49.8 percent in 2017-18 to 57.9 percent in 2022-23. Women’s labor force participation has surged to 37 percent in 2022-23 from 23 percent in 2017-18. The overall unemployment rate has declined from 6 percent in 2017-18 to 3.2 percent in 2022-23. An SBI research report stated that India created 12.5 crore jobs between 2014 and 2023, compared to only 2.9 crore during the 10 years of the UPA government. Youth unemployment for the age group 15-29 years has declined from 17.8 percent in 2017-18 to 10 percent in 2022-23.
Doubts Revealed
Finance Minister -: The Finance Minister is a government official in charge of managing the country’s money and budget. In India, this person decides how much money will be spent on different things like schools, roads, and farmers.
Nirmala Sitharaman -: Nirmala Sitharaman is the current Finance Minister of India. She is responsible for making important decisions about the country’s finances.
Budget -: A budget is a plan for how to spend money. The government makes a budget to decide how much money will go to different things like schools, hospitals, and farmers.
Farmers -: Farmers are people who grow crops and raise animals for food. They are very important because they provide the food we eat.
Youth Programs -: Youth programs are special plans or activities designed to help young people, like giving them jobs or training them for work.
Fivefold increase -: A fivefold increase means that something has become five times bigger. For example, if you had 1 chocolate and now you have 5, that’s a fivefold increase.
Rs 21,934 crore -: Rs 21,934 crore is a way to say a very large amount of money in Indian currency. 1 crore is equal to 10 million rupees.
Rs 1.23 lakh crore -: Rs 1.23 lakh crore is another way to say a very large amount of money. 1 lakh is equal to 100,000 rupees, so 1 lakh crore is 100,000 crores.
Institutional credit -: Institutional credit means loans or money given by banks or other financial institutions to people or businesses, like farmers, to help them grow their work.
Interest subsidies -: Interest subsidies are when the government helps pay part of the interest on loans, making it cheaper for people to borrow money.
UPA government -: The UPA government was a group of political parties in India that ruled before the current government. UPA stands for United Progressive Alliance.
MSP -: MSP stands for Minimum Support Price. It is the lowest price that the government promises to pay farmers for their crops to make sure they earn enough money.
PM Kisan scheme -: The PM Kisan scheme is a government program that gives money directly to farmers to help them with their expenses. PM stands for Prime Minister.
PM Yuva package -: The PM Yuva package is a new plan by the government to help young people find jobs and get training. Yuva means youth in Hindi.
Employment rates -: Employment rates show how many people have jobs. If the rate is high, it means more people are working.
Labor force participation -: Labor force participation means the number of people who are working or looking for work. If more women are participating, it means more women are working or trying to find jobs.