Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his new team held a virtual meeting on Thursday, a day after the Modi cabinet expansion. Many important decisions including agriculture and health sectors were taken in this meeting. Addressing the press conference after the meeting, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said that farmers would be given one lakh crore rupees through the mandi.
Anurag Thakur said that ‘Agriculture Fund’ was formed on 15th May last year, it was done to strengthen the APMC. He said that changes have been made in the methods of financial contribution to this fund. Anurag Thakur further said that the cabinet has approved an emergency package of Rs 23,123 crore to fight Corona. Work is being done for the empowerment of APMC mandis.
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar appealed to the farmers protesting against the new agricultural laws to end their agitation. He said that the priority of the Modi government is the agriculture sector. Tomar said that the Coconut Act will be amended. Emphasis will be laid on increasing coconut business across the world. Along with this, the CEO will be appointed in the Coconut Board. He said that APMC mandis will be further strengthened. Will give resources to agricultural markets. He said that the government’s decision will increase the income of the farmers.
The Agriculture Minister further said- “Modi government has been continuously taking steps for the farmers. I want to tell the agitating farmers that what is said again and again that the new agriculture law will end the mandis. But it was clearly stated in the budget. That the mandis will not end but will be strengthened. Today it was decided that APMC (Agriculture Market Product Committee) will also be able to use the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund.
During the press conference, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has given a package of 23 thousand crores for health emergency. He said that 8 thousand crores will be given to the state governments. Mandaviya said that there are more than 4 lakh oxygen beds available in the country. He said that the Covid hospitals have increased from 163 to 4,389 and the oxygen beds have been increased from 50,000 to 4,17,396.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya along with Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar were present during the press conference. Earlier, 30 ministers were involved during the Modi cabinet meeting. This was the first meeting of Prime Minister Modi with the new cabinet team.
Significantly, the Modi cabinet has been expanded on Wednesday. In this 43 ministers have been sworn in. After this, there have been 77 ministers in the Modi cabinet. 36 new faces have been given place while 7 ministers have been promoted and given cabinet rank. Along with this, many big leaders including Ravi Shankar Prasad and Prakash Javadekar and Harsh Vardhan had resigned as ministers before the cabinet expansion.
In the new cabinet, preference has been given to states like Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, where assembly elections are going to be held next year. Along with this, special preference has been given to youth, professionals and experienced people in the cabinet.