SHILLONG: The State BJP leadership is all praise for the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on February 1.
BJP State president Shibun Lyngdoh appreciated Jaitley for presenting the “pro-poor” and “pro-farmer” budget.
BJP Vice President Gagan Jain asserted that the budget has an all-time high allocation for farmers, which would go a long way in easing drought-related distress and farmers’ suicide.
“Rs 10 lakh crore has been allocated as credit to farmers with 60 days’ interest waiver, besides NABARD fund to be increased to Rs 40,000 crore and irrigation corpus increased from Rs 20,000 crore to Rs 40,000 crore,” he said. Over Rs 3 lakh crore will be spent on rural India and the government targets to bring 1 crore households out of poverty by 2019, Jain said and added that MGNREGA will double farmers’ income to Rs 48,500 crore.
“Participation of women in MGNREGA has gone up to 55 per cent,” he added.
Reacting to a query, Jain admitted that though there is nothing much for the North East since some states are going for their general elections.
However, the BJP VP said the tribal ministry budget has witnessed an increase of 34 per cent (Rs 36,000 crore).
“The Mudra Loan Scheme (Rs 2,44,000 crore) was doubled since last year for SC/ST women, besides the MAT credit carry forward was increased by five years will benefit industries in the North East,” he added.
