Samikhsya Bureau
On Thursday, President Ram Nath Kovind addressed the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament to mark commencement of the Budget session.
“People of the country have given a very clear mandate in the election. After evaluating the first tenure of the government, the countrymen gave given strong support for the second time. By doing so, the countrymen have given a mandate to keep the process of development uninterrupted, and at a fast pace…In this Lok Sabha elections, more than 61 crore citizens cast their vote and set a new record. The people of India gave a clear mandate. The government is working for ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’,’’ the President said adding that the government was working to realise the vision of ‘New India’.
Talking about the steps taken by the government to realise its vision of ‘New India’ by striving to improve condition of living for farmers, small traders and other sections of society, the President said, “This idea of the ‘New India’ is inspired by the thoughts of Shri Narayana Guru, the great poet of Kerala — an ideal place is where all people are like brothers and sisters, free from the discrimination of caste and religion.’’
President Kovind endorsed the One Nation, One Election concept of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “One Nation, Simultaneous Elections is the need of the hour, which would facilitate accelerated development, thereby benefiting our countrymen. With such a system in place, all political parties, according to their respective ideologies, will be able to better utilise their energy towards development and public welfare,” Kovind said in his address.
Here are the main highlights of the President’s speech:
On farmers’ income
To increase the income support of farm community, the government has extended the ‘Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi’ to every farmer in the country.
Large scale investments have been made to strengthen rural India. In order to enhance agriculture productivity, an investment of Rs 25 lakh crore will be made in the coming years. To enable the farmer brothers and sisters who work day and night in their fields to lead a respectable life after attaining the age of 60 years, a ‘pension scheme’ for them has also been approved.
A decision has been taken to increase the income support to farmers who are our ‘annadaata’, by extending the coverage under ‘Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi’, to every farmer in the country.
Livestock is invaluable for farmers and they have to spend a lot of money for treatment of cattle-related diseases. To reduce this expenditure, my government has also decided to start a special scheme with an allocation of Rs 13,000 crore.
The government is fully conscious of the crisis in the drought-hit areas and stands by every affected citizen…with the support of state governments and sarpanches at the village level, it is being ensured that farmers are assisted and the scarcity of drinking water is tackled. Strengthening the system and spirit of cooperative federalism, my government is taking the states along to achieve the national goals. Important developmental issues were discussed with the chief ministers and a decision was taken to constitute a Committee of Chief Ministers to look into structural reforms in the field of agriculture.
To double the income of farmers by 2022, several steps have been taken in the last five years. Be it the decision to increase the MSP, or approval for 100 percent FDI in food processing; be it completion of the irrigation projects pending for decades or extension of crop insurance scheme; be it the ‘Soil Health Card’ or 100 per cent Neem coating of urea; my government has taken many decisions, appreciating such numerous small and big needs of the farmers.
The government has made the agriculture policy both production-centric as well as income-centric. ‘An important link in these efforts is ‘Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi’. Through this, an amount of more than Rs 12,000 crore has been disbursed to the farmers in just three months. An estimated expenditure of Rs 90,000 crore is likely to be incurred annually on this scheme since every farmer has now been brought in its ambit,’ he said.
With the provision of storage for farm produce, the economic security of the farmers is strengthened. Now the storage facility will be provided to the farmers near their village through the ‘Grameen Bhandaran Yojana’.
The benefit of cooperatives in the agriculture sector is being availed by the farmers in the dairy business. In other areas of agriculture also, the target is to create 10,000 new ‘farmer producer organisations’ to benefit the farmers.
On PMMY
Under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojna (PMMY), entrepreneurs would be able to avail loans up to Rs 50 lakh without any guarantee. Besides, new employment opportunities would be generated through appropriate policies in sectors which have the potential to accelerate the economy.
The impact of PMMY has been felt on a big scale. Under this scheme, about 19 crore loans have been disbursed for self-employment. An effort will now be made to cover 30 crore people by expanding this scheme.
India has joined the league of countries with most number of start-ups in the world and to further improve the start-up ecosystem, the government is simplifying the rules. This campaign will be further expedited. Our goal is to establish 50,000 start-ups in the country by 2024.
On banking services
The government is chalking out a strategy to press into service postmen equipped with smartphones to bring banking services to every doorstep.
After the success of the world’s largest financial inclusion campaign, in the form of ‘Jan Dhan Yojana’, my government is also working to bring the banking services to the doorsteps of the people.
To ensure that banking services are readily available in every village of the country and in the inaccessible areas of North East region, work is being done at a fast pace.
About 1.5 lakh post offices in the country are being prepared to provide banking services through ‘India Post Payment Bank.
On health
The objective of the government is to set up about 1.5 lakh ‘health and wellness centres’ in all rural areas by 2022.
Cost of medical treatment pushes the poor families into financial crisis. In order to protect them from this crisis, world’s biggest healthcare scheme ‘Ayushman Bharat Yojana’ has been implemented, providing ‘health-protection-cover’ to 50 crore poor people.
Under Ayushman Bharat scheme, till date, 26 lakh poor patients have availed treatment in hospitals. In order to provide medicines at affordable rates, 5,300 ‘jan aushadhi kendras’ have also been opened.
It is our endeavour to provide medicines at affordable rates to people residing in far-flung areas through these jan aushadhi kendras.
On economic security
The government has introduced a separate pension scheme that would benefit around three crore small shopkeepers and traders across the country. For the first time, a government has taken note of the economic security of small shopkeepers. In the very first meeting of the cabinet, a separate ‘pension scheme’ has been approved for small shopkeepers and retail traders.
On women’s right
Empowerment of women and their effective involvement in society and economy is the touchstone of a developed society. The Government’s thinking promotes not only women’s development but also women-led development.
To ensure equal rights to all sisters and daughters of our country, eradication of malpractices such as ‘triple talaq’ and ‘nikah-halala’ is necessary. I would request all members to extend their support to these efforts, to make lives of our sisters and daughters more dignified.
‘Election of 78 women MPs, for the first time in Lok Sabha’s history depicts image of a ‘New India’.
Laws to punish culprits of rape and other brutal crimes have been made more stringent and stronger now. States have played an important role in making women stronger by providing them adequate safety.
Beti Bachao, Bati Padhao and Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana schemes have come a long way in giving a bright future to girl child and women.
In next three years, two crore new homes will be built for rural women.
This government is committed to make women equal stakeholders in the country’s development and prosperity. Efforts will be made in collaboration with industry and corporate sector to provide better employment opportunities to women,
On corruption
In last two years over 4.25 lakh investors have been disqualified and over 3.5 lakh companies registration have been cancelled.
In this context the Fugitive and Economic Offenders Act has proved to be much helpful. ‘The Fugitive and Economic Offenders Act has proved effective in controlling fugitive economic offenders. Now we are receiving information in this regard from 146 countries, including Switzerland.
India has signed pacts with 80 countries for automatic exchange of information and is now receiving information about all those who have stashed black money abroad,
With the coming into force of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, banks and other financial institutions have been able to settle directly or indirectly an amount of more than Rs 3.50 lakh crore. This Code has also curbed the tendency of willful defaulting on loans taken from banks and other financial institutions.
The impact of ‘Real Estate Regulation Act’ (RERA) is clearly visible in curbing black money transactions in real estate sector and protecting the interests of the customers, providing huge relief to the middle class families.
On terrorism
The whole world is supporting India in fight against terrorism. Masood Azhar, responsible for major terror attacks in India, has been named as international terrorist by the United Nations.
Whether it is an issue of climate change, economic or cyber crimes, or action against corruption and black money, or energy conservation, the world supports India in every way.
