Govt. committed to four percent growth in agriculture

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, while presenting his maiden budget on Thursday, said that the government is committed to sustaining a growth of four percent in agriculture.

He said that for this, the government will bring in a technology driven second Green Revolution with a focus on higher productivity and include a "Protein Revolution" as an area of major focus.

The Finance Minister said that as a very large number of landless farmers are unable to provide land titles as guarantee, institutional finance is denied to them and they become vulnerable to money lenders' usurious lending

Jaitley proposed to provide finance to 5 lakh joint farming groups of "Bhoomi Heen Kisan" through NABARD in the current financial year.

Jaitely also proposed to set aside a sum of Rs 50 crores for the development of indigenous cattle breeds and an equal amount for starting a blue revolution in inland fisheries.