The key announcement made in Union Budget 2021 focused on the agriculture sector has the potential to accelerate Prime Minister Narendra Modi vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat and promote organic farming in the country, says senior agriculture sector leaders.
Most of the industry leader Tech Observer spoke with are of the views that the budget has shown confidence and pushed for a stronger and improved Aatmanirbhar Bharat. According to them, the government's focus on increasing the purchasing power of the farmers will encourage more farmers to adopt organic farming. Here are the views of the top agriculture sector CXOs on Union Budget 2021.
Ajit Chandra Mishra, Founder, Nehamrit Farms
The Budget 2021 has brought about a stronger focus on Aatmanirbhar Bharat, adoption of organic farming has resulted in benefits such as rewarding and sustainable farming, leading to self-reliance; preventing soil loss and leaching of minerals; balanced ecology; improved agro-biodiversity; and lower risk of ailments associated with chemicals.
Moreover, organic farming practices have helped promote tourism and global branding of organic produce from India and this has opened up additional business opportunities. However, implementation and execution of policies are always a challenge. Local government bodies have to play a pivotal role. They have to be on board and in sync, with the government's expectation, else central schemes will not reach the farmers.
Praveen Kumar Gupta, Co-founder, Planet Organic
The Budget 2021 has really pushed for a stronger and improved Aatmanirbhar Bharat. The government's focus on increasing the purchasing power of the farmers will encourage more farmers to adopt organic farming. Organic farming products generate more outflow as compared to traditional farming methods. We at Planet Organic believe that Organic farming is the future of agriculture.
The government's proposal for allocation of funds for MSME sectors, reduction of marginal money requirement and extension of tax holiday for start-ups is a great initiative and will be helpful for all start-ups.
Nikhil Das, Founder, Agdhi
The budget acknowledged the importance of agriculture in India's economy as one of the central pillars employing 15% of the population. The central budget has shown confidence in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) regime and has upheld it for the farmer. The budget has promised 1.5 times MSP against the cost of production across all commodities. This is likely to bring in more innovation and adoption of technology in farming. Besides this, the budget has proposed an increase in agriculture credit
The budget has realized the importance of start-ups in job creation and has extended the tax holiday for startups till March 2022. Already withering under the impact of the pandemic, the announcement has come as a big relief for startups that have become a critical employment generator with 4,70,000 jobs. Such measures are likely to boost sentiments across the board among potential entrepreneurs who are keen on entering the market with their business ideas.
These announcements in the budget were preceded by some welcome news for startups that included the broadening of the definition of startups and approval of the “Startup India Seed Fund Scheme” which comes with a corpus of Rs 945 crore. Overall, the budget has decided on supporting sectors that generate employment and seeks to revive an economy that has been severely hit by a global pandemic.
Ajai Chowdhary, Founder HCL, Board member IAN & IC member IAN Fund
Budget focus to move India into the global supply chain is a welcome move towards Atmanirbhar India. Also, the budget allocated for the agricultural sector will lead to infrastructural development and create opportunities for startups in the sector leading towards self-reliant India vision.
