By Mr R S Sodhi
GCMMF Managing Director Mr R S Sodhi has reacted to various points expressed in the union budget 2018-19 presented by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday in Parliament. While lauding govt offering 1.5 times MSP of input cost for all agricultural crops, it has demanded inclusion of milk as an agricultural produce. GCMMF reminds that milk is much bigger crop than wheat and paddy put together. More over in milk 80% producers are landless and marginal farmers, so number of beneficiary are more than the other agricultural crops. Excerpts:
1) Increase in Minimum Support Price (MSP) by 1.5 time of cost of production of Agri Crop will reduce farmer distress, which is very much required at this moment. However, we request Govt. of India to include milk in the list of Agriculture Produce.
2) Increase in Import Duty of various products like Juices will strengthen the Make in India initiative. Increase in import duty of all kinds of edible oils will also help Indian farmers and reduce foreign exchange requirement. This will give major boost to domestic production of these items. It is a good step for doubling the farmers’ income.
3) Further, increase in Customs Duty of products like Perfume, Footwear, Furnitures, Watches and Clocks, Toys and Games, etc. will help MSME Industry and result into employment generation. This is the first time that import duty is increased across the board for the benefit of our Small Scale and MSME Sector.
4) 100% exemption of profit of FARM PRODUCER COMPANIES u/s 80P for turnover upto Rs. 100 cr. will result in remunerative prices to farmers for agri products. This should also be extended to other allied agriculture sectors like Dairy, Animal Husbandry, etc. as well as to Primary Village Cooperative Societies.
5) Introduction of Operation Green to address the price instability of perishable seasonal vegetables in line with Operation Flood. Rs. 500 Cr. allocated this year.
6) Extension of Kisan Credit Card to Animal Husbandry. This will benefit for direct receipt of Govt. benefits and will create credit history for milk producers.
7) There is announcement of Rs. 10,000 Cr. corpus fund for Aquaculture, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry infrastructure development. This will help to create infrastructure facilities in Animal Husbandry Sector, indirectly benefiting the Dairy Sector.
8) It is also good that Govt. will utilize 22,000 Gram Hatt for marketing of Agriculture Produce and also link with E-Nam Platform.
9) PF contribution by Govt. of 12% for new employees is welcome step. Presently, it is for Textile, Leather, Footwear and similar other employment generating Sectors. Such benefits can be extended to all allied agriculture sectors like Dairy and Animal Husbandry.
10) Good benefit to Senior Citizens by enhancing interest income and medical premium limit.