President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday during the joint session of the Parliament said that the BJP-led NDA government has given importance to all the three pillars of the economy – Manufacturing, Agriculture and Services.
During her first address to the joint sitting of the Parliament after the constitution of the 18th Lok Sabha, she said that India is emerging as a leader in every sector from IT to tourism and from health to wellness.
“Production Linked Incentives (PLI) schemes and Ease of Doing Business have contributed to increasing investments and employment opportunities on a large scale.
Along with the traditional sectors, sunrise sectors are also being promoted in mission mode. Be it semiconductor or solar, electric vehicles or electronic goods, green hydrogen or batteries, aircraft carriers or fighter jets, India is expanding in all these sectors,” she said.
“My Government is also making continuous efforts to reduce the cost of logistics and also strengthening the services sector,” the president said.
She further said that the government has also pledged to place emphasis on the rural economy.
“Agro-based industries, dairy and fishery-based industries are being expanded in villages. In this also, cooperatives have been accorded priority. The Government is creating a large network of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and cooperative organizations such as Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS),” President Murmu said.
A major problem for small farmers is related to storage, she said.
“Therefore, my Government has commenced work on a scheme to create the world’s largest storage capacity in the cooperative sector,” she said.
On the agricualture sector, the President said that India is making changes in its agricultural system in line with its current requirements.
“Policies have been framed and decisions taken guided by the thought that we become more self-reliant and increase farmers’ income through increased exports. For example, the Government is providing all possible assistance to farmers to reduce dependence on other countries for pulses and oilseeds. New strategies are being formulated, keeping in mind the kind of food products that are in high demand in the global market.
“Nowadays, the demand for organic products is increasing rapidly in the world. Indian farmers have ample capacity to meet this demand. Therefore, the Government is strengthening natural farming and the supply chain of its related products. With these efforts, expenditure incurred by farmers on farming activities will reduce and their income will also increase further,” she said.
The President also said that several historic steps and major economic decisions will be taken in the upcoming Budget.
The budget that will be presented by the government in the next Parliament session will be a document of its futuristic vision.
