- The Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, held her fourth Pre-Budget Consultations with different stakeholder Groups from Agriculture & Agro Processing sectors in connection with the forthcoming General Budget 2020-21. The meeting was attended by senior officials of the Government of India – Ministry of Finance, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Department of Water Resources, Department of Fisheries and the Ministry of Agriculture & Cooperation. The industry was represented by Industry bodies – CII, National Cooperative Union of India, NCDX, Irrigation Association of India, financial institutions like NABARD and companies like IIFCO etc.
- The main areas of discussion during the meeting included agricultural marketing reforms, organic & Natural farming, Agricultural Commodity Markets & future trading, storage infrastructure for agricultural produce, animal husbandry, Agro processing industry, ideas for reducing food subsidy among others.