New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the third tranche of economic stimulus announced by his government will help rural economy and boost farmers'' income. "I welcome today''s measures announced by FM @nsitharaman," he wrote on Twitter. He said the measures will help the rural economy, hardworking farmers, fishermen, the animal husbandry and dairy sectors. In the third tranche of an overall package of Rs 20 lakh crore to deal with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday announced a slew of measures for agriculture sector, including a Rs 1.63 lakh crore outlay, and amending the stringent Essential Commodities Act to remove cereals, edible oil, oilseeds, pulses, onions and potato from its purview.
Mod also said he specially welcomes reform initiatives in agriculture, which will boost income of farmers. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Modi announced a cumulative package of Rs 20 lakh crore, nearly 10 per cent of GDP, to provide relief to various segments of the economy battered by the nationwide lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. It includes a Rs 1.7 lakh crore package, including free foodgrains and cash to poor for three months announced in March, and Rs 5.6 lakh crore stimulus provided through various monetary policy measures by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Of the remaining amount, the government in two tranches over the last two days announced a cumulative package of Rs 9.1 lakh crore. It was largely credit lines to smaller firms, concessional credit to farmers and support to shadow banks and electricity distributors.
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