Days Before Budget, PM Talks Of Sectors That Need Focus In Parliament

Nirmala Sitharaman (right) will present the Union Budget on July 5.

Agriculture, manufacturing and exports deserve significant attention, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday in his first speech in parliament after his re-election, days before his government will present the union budget for the financial year ending 2020.

"In the first three weeks, this government has taken a lot of important decisions. These decisions we have taken will benefit farmers, traders, youngsters and other sections of society," he said, speaking in parliament in response to the customary motion of thanks on the President's address.

"Agriculture is the backbone of our economy. But we have to leave our old ways and embrace things like micro-irrigation. We have to bring down inputs costs. We have to hold the hands of our farmers," he said.

"Why does the corporate world have no investment in agriculture? We have to inspire them, we have to create new policies for them. Making tractors is not enough. Food processing, warehouses, cold storage need corporate investment," PM Modi said.

Talking about the government's flagship manufacturing scheme, he said, "A lot of fun has been made of Make In India. But can someone deny that there should be Make In India in this country? We have 250 years of experience in making weapons. When it became independent, India had 18 ordnance factories. China has zero - no experience, no factories. Today, China exports arms and ammunition all over the world and we are the world's biggest importer. We have to bring our country out of this."

"We have to see how we can make India one of the top five economies in the world. How can India get ahead in exports, Make In India, startups, tourism," he added

Expressing an ambition to widen India's footprint in research and development, the PM spoke of a new motto: "Jai kisan (farmers), jai jawan (soldiers), jai vigyan (science) and now jai anusandhan (research)."

"Let it be our collective endeavour to make India a five trillion dollar economy," he said.

"We have to modernise the infrastructure in our country. Even Rs 100 lakh crore investment in infrastructure will be less. But we have to ahead with such vision... We have to increase the scale of skill development," he said.

PM Modi also spoke about water conservation and measures to increase availability of water. "Our motto should be water for every home... That is why we have formed the Jal Shakti Ministry," he said.

The first budget of PM Modi's new government will be presented in the parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 5. On February 1, the government had presented an Interim budget for spending till the new government took charge after the general elections.