Media Monitor
Budget
Rural India’s Budget expectationsedit
The performance of agriculture and the rural economy is important as around 70 per cent of the population and workforce reside in rural areas. Increasing their purchasing power is crucial for creating demand in the entire economy. In this context, let’s examine the present state of agriculture, rural economy, and expectations from the interim Budget for 2024-25.
Budget Snapshot: Government to step up focus on agriculture sector, execution keyedit
The government is likely to increase allocations for the farmer and agriculture schemes in the budget 2024-25. The yearly allocations for the Department of the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare more than doubled from FY19 as the government implemented the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan), a scheme that gives farmers an income support of up to Rs 6,000 per year.
Competition
How CNH plans to double its market share in the Indian tractor industryedit
Mittal also shares insights on how CNH’s Greater Noida facility is the leanest in terms of manufacturing, compared to its other plants across the globe; adoption of alternative fuel technologies for tractors, connected technology in the segment, Trem-V production; and India’s potential of becoming a production hub for the world. The Italian-American company, which produces farm machinery under New Holland, has recently completed 25 years for the brand in India. For 2024, it wants to focus on precision technology and localisation in the country.
Technology in Agriculture
Drones can revolutionise the agriculture sectoredit
In Punjab, where drones remain associated mostly with dropping drugs and arms from Pakistan in border areas, now they are poised to gain a new skyline to revolutionise the agriculture sector. Kiranpal Kaur of Sekha village in Barnala district, who has only completed her education up to class 10 and has never travelled in a plane, is now a trained drone pilot. She travels across the district to provide rental services for spraying fertilisers and pesticides and undertaking surveys to check for any crop damage in the fields.