Interim budget trailer for what to come after Lok Sabha polls: PM Modi

This is a #BudgetForNewIndia and for all Indians. Watch my take. https://t.co/eAsPXMk1Dr

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 1, 2019

The prime minister called the PM Kisan Nidhi Yojana, that ensures cash transfer to farmers, the biggest scheme for farmers since independence. “For farmers, there have been several schemes by different governments from time to time, but only 2-3 crore farmers were included under these schemes. But now PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme will benefit over 12 crore farmers who own 5 acres or less than 5 acres of land,” he said.

Meanwhile, Congress President Rahul Gandhi has called the scheme an “insult” to farmers. “Five years of your incompetence and arrogance has destroyed the lives of our farmers. Giving them Rs. 17 a day is an insult to everything they stand and work for,” he said.

Modi said that the middle class and the salaried middle class had been longing for tax rebates, but it was the present government that acted on it, announcing tax exemption for income upto Rs 5 lakh.

“From middle class to labourers, from farmers’ growth to the development of businessmen, from manufacturing to MSME sector, from the growth of the economy to the development of New India, everyone has been taken care of in this interim budget,” the prime minister said.