Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday clarified that the Union Budget proposal of collecting Rs 30,000 crore through Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess will go to states so that mandi infrastructure can be improved.
Amid ongoing protests by farmers and the Opposition to repeal controversial farm laws, Sitharaman said that not even one Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) has been shut in any state, and instead the Budget makes provision to strengthen such market places for farmers. She was replying to a general debate on the Budget for 2021-22 in the Lok Sabha.
Taking a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Sitharaman said that the United Progressive Alliance government can take credit for MGNREGA, but at the same time should own up to mismanagement in the rural employment scheme.
“The moment schemes are given birth, they are misused to favour cronies,” she said. “Hum do humaare do” comes here, she added.
Gandhi had taken a dig at the BJP government earlier for promoting “crony capitalism”, calling the government “hum do humaare do”.
She said the Congress government made huge budget allocations for the scheme, but
