In this year’s Union Budget, the government had focused mainly on bringing farmers to the core of the government’s ”inclusive growth agenda. They have proposed to leverage technology, huge farm credits and investment. On Wednesday, the Union Budget for 2023-24 provided for the setting up of digital public infrastructure for the agriculture sector and creating an accelerator fund for the agricultural start-ups in rural areas, among many other initiatives for the sector.
The main goal of this digital Infar is to create an open source to support farmer-centric solutions like crop planning, access to farm inputs with improved health, credit and insurance support for crop estimation, encouragement of the expansion of the agr-tech sector and start-ups, and market intelligence. While she was presenting her budget to the House, she said, “It would also bring in modern technologies to alter agricultural methods and increase productivity and profitability.
She also announced a nearly 11% hike in the agricultural credit target for Rs 20 lakh crore for the next fiscal year focusing on animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries. It is an essential instrument to provide higher farm loans at subsidy rates to the communities of the farmers. The government has decided on a target of Rs 18 lakh crores of agriculture credit for 2022-23. Besides these, the budget also focuses on other measures ranging from enhancing the productivity of the cotton crop and promoting disease-free horticulture and a clean plant programme.
The son of a Gardner is now the president of the Students’ Union.
History finds some way of repeating itself, and Pankaj Yadav is living proof of it. He has gotten elected by the students of St. Stephn’s College as their student union president. He is 21 years old and is a son of a gardener. The elder brother of Pankaj is Rohit Kumar Yadav, who was also elected as the college president in 2014. Pankaj was highly inspired by his brother and wanted to stand for that particular post to ensure his father’s respect.
Pankal was a student at a government school and always wanted to become a cricketer at a national level. His dream has proved beyond his reach; he is still playing for the college team and aspiring to become a physical education teacher and help other aspirants fulfil their dreams. This BA program student garnered 497 of the 765 votes and was cast to become the second St Stephens president from his family. Pankaj’s father and grandfather have worked as a gardener in the college.
Pankaj Yadav has stated, ”I have seen life in St Stephens from very close, and I think Iβll be able to help students better” he also said, ”Rohit bhaiya was my inspiration. I wanted to become like him. I also thought my parents would get respect if I became a college president. And though I donβt come from a privileged background, I knew I could win the post”. In his four months tenure, he hopes to engage the administration in boosting student facilities.
