Budget 2021: Amid Opposition sloganeering, Sitharaman highlights improve in MSP beneath NDA

Presenting the Union Budget amid the continued protests in opposition to the three new farm legal guidelines, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Monday mentioned the federal government is dedicated to the farmers’ welfare amid sloganeering from the Opposition benches to repeal the contentious legal guidelines.
Sitharaman mentioned the MSP regime has undergone a “sea change” to guarantee worth at the least 1.5 instances of manufacturing price.

“The procurement has also continued to increase at a steady pace. This has resulted in an increase in payment to farmers substantially,” she mentioned.
Giving particulars of the rise in MSP-based procurement, the Finance Minister mentioned, “In case of wheat, the total amount paid to farmers in 2013-14 was Rs 33,874 crore. In 2019-20, it was Rs 62,802 crore.”

In 2020-21, she mentioned the quantity paid to farmers was over Rs 75,000 crore.
“The number of wheat growing farmers that were benefited increased in 2020-21 to 43.36 lakh compared to 35.57 lakh in 2019-20. That much of an increase within one year,” Sitharaman mentioned.
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi with MPs from Punjab poses for a bunch {photograph}, as they arrive to attend the Budget Session 2021-22, at Parliament House in New Delhi, Monday, Feb. 1, 2021. (PTI Photo)
For paddy, Sitharaman mentioned the quantity paid in 2013-14 was Rs 63,928 crore and it elevated to Rs 1,41,930 crore in 2019-20. The Finance Minister mentioned it’s additional estimated to extend to Rs 1,72,752 crore in 2020-21.
The variety of beneficiaries elevated from 1.2 crore in 2019-20 to 1.54 crore in 2020-21.
For pulses, Sitharaman mentioned Rs 236 crore was paid to farmers in 2013-14. “In 2019-20, this was increased to Rs 8,285 crore. Now in 2020-21, it is at Rs 10,530 crore, more than 40 times increase from 2013-14,” she mentioned.
Similarly, Rs 90 crore was paid in 2013-14 to cotton farmers whereas Rs 25,974 crore has been paid in 2020-21 as of January 27.

Meanwhile, the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) scheme witnessed a Rs 10,000-crore reduce in allocation. PM-Kisan’s funds has been lowered from Rs 75,000 crore in BE 2020-21 to Rs 65,000 crore in RE 2020-21, together with for the following fiscal.
Another scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana, noticed a reduce in allocation. The scheme’s funds has been lowered from Rs 1,081 crore in BE 2020-21 to Rs 750 crore RE 2020-21 and Rs 700 crore in BE 2021-22.
Opposition protests in opposition to farm legal guidelines
As the minister began highlighting the federal government’s initiatives and achievements within the agriculture sector, Opposition members began demanding repeal of three new farm legal guidelines.
Congress MPs from Punjab, Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Jasbir Singh Gill and Ravneet Singh Bittu wore black robes in Lok Sabha to precise their solidarity with protesting farmers.
(L-R) Shiromani Akali Dal leaders Sukhbir Singh Badal, Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) MP Hanuman Beniwal maintain placards as they stage a protest in opposition to the farm legal guidelines, in the course of the Budget Session 2021-22, at Parliament House in New Delhi, Monday, Feb. 1, 2021. (PTI Photo/Manvender Vashist)
SAD leaders Sukhbir Singh Badal and Harsimrat Kaur Badal additionally carried anti-farm regulation placards to mark their protest.
The farmers, primarily from Punjab and Haryana, who’ve been tenting at Delhi’s borders since November 25 final 12 months, have been demanding a whole repeal of the three farm legal guidelines promulgated by the Centre, fearing that they might result in the abolishment of the minimal assist worth (MSP) assured by the federal government on choose crops and would go away them on the mercy of massive corporates.
The three legal guidelines are: Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020; and Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020.