Union Budget 2023-2024: Priority 1: Inclusive Development

1 Feb 2023 , 01:41 PM

The Government’s philosophy of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas has facilitated inclusive development covering in specific, farmers, women, youth, OBCs, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, divyangjan and economically weaker sections, and overall priority for the underprivileged (vanchiton ko variyata). There has also been a sustained focus on Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh and the North-East. This Budget builds on those efforts.

Focus area	Measures announced
AGRICULTURE
Digital Public Infrastructure for Agriculture	Digital public infrastructure for agriculture will be built as an open source, open standard and inter operable public good. Farmers will receive information services for crop planning and health, providing improved access to farm inputs, credit, and insurance, help for crop estimation, market intelligence, and support for growth of agri-tech industry and start-ups.
Agriculture Accelerator Fund	An Agriculture Accelerator Fund will be set-up to encourage agri-startups by young entrepreneurs in rural areas. The Fund will aim at bringing innovative and affordable solutions for challenges faced by farmers.
Enhancing productivity of cotton crop	Adopt a cluster-based and value chain approach through Public Private Partnerships (PPP) to enhance the productivity of extra-long staple cotton.  This will mean collaboration between farmers, state and industry for input supplies, extension services, and market linkages.
Atmanirbhar Horticulture Clean Plant Program	The government will launch an Atmanirbhar Clean Plant Program to provide quality planting material for high value horticultural crops at an outlay of Rs 2,200 crore.
Global Hub for Millets: ‘Shree Anna’	India is the largest producer and second largest exporter of ‘Shree Anna’ in the world. To make India a global hub for ‘Shree Anna’, the Indian Institute of Millet Research, Hyderabad will be supported as the Centre of Excellence. (Shree Anna: jowar, ragi, bajra, kuttu, ramdana, kangni, kutki, kodo, cheena, and sama).
Agriculture Credit	The agriculture credit target will be increased to Rs 20 lakh crore with focus on animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries.
FISHERIES	New sub-scheme of PM Matsya Sampada Yojana with target investment of Rs 6,000 crore to improve value chain efficiencies, and expand the market.
COOPERATION	A new Ministry of Cooperation was formed with a mandate to realize the vision of ‘Sahakar Se Samriddhi’. The government has initiated computerization of 63,000 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) with an investment of ` Rs 2,516 crore.  In consultation with all stakeholders and states, model bye-laws for PACS were formulated enabling them to become multipurpose PACS.  A national cooperative database is being prepared for country-wide mapping of cooperative societies.  Implement a plan to set up massive decentralized storage capacity. This will help farmers store their produce and realize remunerative prices through sale at appropriate times. Facilitate setting up a large number of multipurpose cooperative societies, primary fishery societies and dairy cooperative societies in uncovered panchayats and villages in the next 5 years.
HEALTH, EDUCATION AND SKILLING
Medical & Nursing Colleges	157 new nursing colleges to establish in co-location with the existing 157 medical colleges.
Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission	A Mission to eliminate Sickle Cell Anaemia by 2047 will be launched.
Medical Research	ICMR Labs will be made available for research by public and private medical college faculty and private sector R&D teams
Pharma innovation	New program to promote research and innovation in pharmaceuticals will be taken up through centers of excellence.
Multidisciplinary courses for medical devices	Dedicated multidisciplinary courses for medical devices to ensure availability of skilled manpower for futuristic medical technologies, high-end manufacturing and research.
TEACHERS’ TRAINING	Teachers’ training will be re-envisioned through innovative pedagogy, curriculum transaction, continuous professional development, dipstick surveys, and ICT implementation. The District Institutes of Education and Training will be developed as vibrant institutes of excellence for this purpose.
NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY FOR CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS	National Digital Library for children and adolescents will be set-up for facilitating availability of quality books across geographies, languages, genres and levels, and device agnostic accessibility. States will be encouraged to set up physical libraries for them at panchayat and ward levels and provide infrastructure for accessing the National Digital Library resources. National Book Trust, Children’s Book Trust and other sources will be provided and replenish non-curricular titles in regional languages and English to these physical libraries. To inculcate financial literacy, financial sector regulators and organizations will be encouraged to provide age-appropriate reading material to these libraries.