New Delhi, Feb 19 If you thought the government is done with the Budget after presenting it, think again.
Now, the ruling Bharatiya Janata party lawmakers will go to every district of India - 732 in total, to talk about the "goodies" of the Union Budget. Each meeting will be attended by the local BJP MLA or a BJP leader along with a central representative of the party and an economic expert.
Kisan Rail and Kisan Udan will be the two issues prominently marketed in those meetings, say sources. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Aviation Ministry will launch the Krishi Udan scheme which is aimed at helping farmers in transporting agricultural products. The idea of the scheme is to improve their "value realisation".
Similarly, 'Kisan Rail' through the public-private-partnership (PPP) model for the cold supply chain to transport perishable goods was proposed. These vans, with a carrying capacity of 17 tonnes each for transportation of highly-perishable parcel traffic are aimed to help farmers earn more.
Both these proposals will be explained as "pro-farmer" moves by the Modi government.
Another point of focus for the BJP will be the small scale industry, which has been unhappy with the party ever since the GST implementation. Currently, MSMEs with a turnover of Rs 1 crore are required to be audited by an accountant. Sitharaman proposed to increase the level required for audit to Rs 5 crore. The BJP has reason to believe, once explained, many in the MSME sector will root for the Budget.
The fact that the Modi government has requested the Reserve Bank to extend the debt restructuring window for MSMEs by a year to March 31, 2021, will be strongly marketed in those meetings all across India, said a BJP source.
While the economic experts will explain the details in simpler, non-jargon language, the central representatives will use the events to project the "achievability" of a five trillion-dollar economy, that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been harping on consistently.
From Members of Parliament to general secretaries all will be pressed into this massive exercise which will take place in each and every district of India.
However, the meetings will be by invitation only. Select businessmen, farmers, teachers and socially influential people in the concerned district will be invited to attend them.
So what was the need for it in the first place? BJP sources say many tend to "miss" the "benefits" of the Budget because of not reading newspapers. These meetings will fill in the void, the BJP source said.
( With inputs from IANS )