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New Delhi : Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs, Railways & Coal Piyush Goyal, while presenting Interim Budget 2019-20 in Parliament on February 1, 2019, announced a new scheme “Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)” to extend direct income support at the rate of Rs 6,000 per year to farmer families having cultivable land up to 2 hectares.
Goyal said, “ Our Government is launching a historic programme PM-KISAN with an outlay of Rs 75,000 crore for the FY 2019-20 and Rs 20,000 crore in the Revised Estimates (RE) of FY 2018-19.” Under this Government of India funded Scheme, Rs 2,000 each will be transferred to the bank accounts of around 12 crore Small and Marginal farmer families in three equal installments. This programme would be made effective from December 1, 2018, and the first installment for the period up to March 31, 2019, would be paid during this year itself, Goyal said.
To provide sustained and focused attention towards development of Fisheries, the Government has decided to create a separate Department of Fisheries. The Finance Minister said that through the measure, the Government wants to promote further growth over 7% to promote livelihood of about 1.45 crore people dependent on the sector.
The Finance Minister announced 2% interest subvention to the farmers pursuing the activities of animal husbandry and fisheries, who avail loan through Kisan Credit Card. Further, in case of timely repayment of loan, they will also get an additional 3% interest subvention.
Allocation of Rs 750 crore for Rashtriya Gokul Mission has been announced for the current year itself. Setting up of “Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog” to upscale sustainable genetic upgradation of cow resources and to enhance production and productivity of cows has also been announced. The Aayog will also look after effective implementation of laws and welfare schemes for cow.