Interim Budget 2019 : Rural Sector | 02 Feb 2019

Interim Budget 2019 has following proposals in Rural sector:

Agriculture and Allied Sector

• Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)
  • The Government will launch the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) to provide an assured income support to the small and marginal farmers.
  • This scheme is along the lines of Rythu Bandhu scheme of Telangana which offers ₹10,000 per acre a year to all farmers, excluding tenant farmers and the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme of Odisha which offers direct benefit cash transfer of ₹25,000 for a farm family over five seasons to small and marginal farmers.
  • Under this programme, vulnerable landholding farmer families, having cultivable land upto 2 hectares, will be provided direct income support at the rate of Rs. 6,000 per year.
  • This income support will be transferred directly into the bank accounts of beneficiary farmers, in three equal instalments of Rs. 2,000 each.
  • This programme will entail an annual expenditure of Rs.75,000 crore which will be funded by Government of India. Around 12 crore small and marginal farmer families are expected to benefit from this.
• Government has announced the setting up of a ‘Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog’ to upscale the sustainable genetic upgradation of cattle resources and to enhance the production and productivity of cows. The Aayog will also look after effective implementation of laws and welfare schemes for cattle.
• Rs 750 crore has been allocated under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission (RGM) which is aimed at conserving indigenous Indian breeds of cattle through selective breeding.
• To provide sustained and focused attention towards development of fisheries sector, the Government has decided to create a separate Department of Fisheries.

Rural Infrastructure

• Pushing rural infrastructure in the new financial year, union budget of 2019-20 allocated Rs 19,000 crore against Rs 15,500 crore in revised estimates of 2018-19 for development of roads in rural and backward area under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).
  • PMGSY was launched in 2000 to provide all-weather road connectivity to unconnected villages in India.
• Government will make one lakh villages into Digital Villages over next five years which will be achieved by expanding the Common Service Centres (CSCs).

MGNREGA

• The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme was allocated only ₹60,000 crore for 2019-20, slightly lower than its revised estimate of ₹61,084 crore for 2018-19. 
• According to activists, the funding crunch is resulting in difficulties in meeting the demand for work, as well as delayed payment of wages to workers.

Pension Scheme

• The Centre has allocated ₹500 crore for a new pension scheme for workers in the unorganised sector, while reducing its allocation for an existing pension scheme National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) (a pension scheme administered by the Ministry of Rural Development) from ₹9,975 crore in the 2018-19 Budget to ₹9,200 crore for 2019-20.
• The new scheme, to be called the Pradhan Mantri Shram-Yogi Maandhan, will benefit unorganised sector workers who have a monthly income up to ₹15,000. It will provide them a monthly pension of ₹3,000 from the age of 60.
• Workers will contribute an amount ranging from ₹55 to ₹100 each month, depending on their age, at the time of joining the scheme, while the government will deposit a matching contribution. The Centre expects 10 crore workers to get the benefit within the next five years.