India's Modi Trains Sight on Farmers Before Election Battle
- Govt to ensure at least 50% return for monsoon crops: Budget
- India to develop 22,000 agriculture markets to help farmers
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India will boost farmers’ returns by increasing purchase prices for crops by more than 50 percent of the output cost, a move aimed at fulfilling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise of doubling farm incomes by 2022.
The government will increase the minimum support price for monsoon-sown crops such as rice, soybeans, cotton and pulses, said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who presented the government’s budget in parliament for the financial year beginning April 1. The announcement meets the ruling party’s pledge on farm incomes in its 2014 poll manifesto.