The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi addressed the post-budget webinar on ‘Agriculture and Cooperatives’ on Friday and revealed that a revolution is sweeping through the cooperative sector in the country. Modi was speaking at the second of a series of 12 post-budget webinars organized by the government to seek ideas and suggestions for the effective implementation of the initiatives announced in the Union Budget 2023.
“A new revolution is taking place in the cooperative sector of India”, the Prime Minister remarked as he pointed out that it is not limited to some states and some regions of the country anymore. He informed that tax-related reliefs have been given to the cooperative sector in this year’s budget which will benefit new cooperative societies engaged in manufacturing. He further added that TDS will not be levied on cash withdrawals up to Rs 3 crore by cooperative societies.
The Prime Minister also mentioned the important decision of tax exemption given to the payment made by the sugar cooperative before 2016-17 and said that it will benefit the sugar cooperative to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore.
The Prime Minister emphasized that sectors such as dairy and fisheries which did not have cooperatives earlier will greatly benefit the farmers today.
Throwing light on the huge opportunities for our farmers in fisheries, the Prime Minister informed that fish production in the country has increased by about 70 lakh metric tonnes in the last 8-9 years. He also touched upon a new sub-component that has been announced under the PM Matsya Sampada Yojana at a cost of 6000 crores which will give a boost to the fisheries value chain as well as the market.
Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister highlighted the importance given to the agricultural sector in this year’s budget as well as budgets of the past 8-9 years. He informed that the agricultural budget which was less than 25 thousand crores in 2014 has been increased to more than 1 lakh 25 thousand crores today. “Every Budget in recent years has been called a budget for Gaon, Gareeb and Kisan”, Shri Modi said.
“Today India is exporting many types of agricultural products”, the Prime Minister said as he shed light on the efforts of the government to make domestic and international markets accessible to the farmers. He also stated that India’s goal should not be limited to rice or wheat when it comes to self-sufficiency or export.
Highlighting the imports in the agricultural sector, he said that the sum of all agricultural imports was about Rs 2 lakh crores. Modi informed about new initiatives of the government such as increase in MSP, promotion of pulse production, increase in the number of food processing parks, and work in mission mode to become completely self-sufficient in terms of edible oil.
The PM observed that private innovation and investment are keeping a distance from this sector which leads to low participation of India’s youth in the agricultural sector compared to the other sectors which witness active participation and growth.
Drawing an analogy to the open platform of UPI, the Prime Minister noted the immense possibilities of investment and innovation in Agri-Tech domains. Modi listed out the opportunities such as improving logistics, making large markets more accessible, promoting drip irrigation through technology, installation of soil testing labs along the lines of medical labs.
The Prime Minister informed about the introduction of accelerator funds for agri-tech startups and said that the government is not only creating digital infrastructure but also preparing funding avenues. He urged the youth and young entrepreneurs to move forward and achieve their goals. The Prime Minister pointed out that India is home to more than 3000 agri-startups today compared to next to nothing 9 years ago.
