Agriculture ecosystem in focus: FM unveils strategies for modernization

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said modernising post-harvest practices to boost agriculture ecosystem, and pushing manufacturing in sunrise sectors like renewable energy, semiconductors, material sciences are among the government's top priorities."High priority is being given to these sectors, and (this is) not just in the budget," the Finance Minister said in an interaction with students at Delhi University’s Hindu College. She is scheduled to present an interim budget for the financial year 2024-25 on February 1.
“Agriculture retains its primacy and we are looking at strengthening agriculture by modernising some of the practices, post-harvest practices, and so on,” she said. On the central bank digital currency, Sitharaman said the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are actively engaged to increase its usage, including for cross-border payments.“We strongly believe it helps in cross border payments. It will bring in greater transparency and traceability,” she said.

Hindu College has a glorious history and played an important role in India’s freedom struggle to achieve political independence and govern an independent India. Today, we’ll have to repeat that role to achieve economic independence and Atmanirbharata.

- Smt @nsitharaman at Hindu… pic.twitter.com/t3KLqqgo1c

— Nirmala Sitharaman Office (@nsitharamanoffc) January 25, 2024

She further added that the digital currency would help in bringing down cost for inward and outward remittances and make the process faster. “Both the regulator (RBI) and the government are working on it. We are actively engaged in it,” she said.As anticipation builds ahead of the interim budget, these priorities signal the government's strategic approach to economic revitalization, combining agricultural reforms with a forward-looking emphasis on sunrise sectors to drive inclusive and sustainable growth.

(Ira Singh, Asstt Editor)