P Chidambaram demands more clarity from Finance Minister 

Former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has raised questions on the third tranche of announcement made by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. He asked for clarification.

"FM may please clarify whether the sums she announced yesterday (Rs 500 crore and Rs 13,343 crore) are subsumed in the Expenditure Budget numbers or additional sums of money"asked Chidambaram

The former Minister raised questions on "bee keeping project" and said that the Expenditure Budget 2020-21 has already provided for BEE KEEPING under National Horticulture Mission and allocated Rs 2,400 crore.

"Likewise, under Animal Disease Control Programme the fight against FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE has already been launched with a 5-year outlay of Rs 13,343 crore and allocation of Rs 1,300 crore in 2020-21," he added.

Sitharaman on Friday announced that Rs 1 lakh crore would be spent to create warehouses and cold-chains for the agriculture sector.

Besides, she announced a Rs 20,000 crore scheme for fishermen through the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) for integrated, sustainable and inclusive development of marine and inland fisheries.

Composition-wise, the scheme will include Rs 11,000 crore for promotion of activities in marine, inland fisheries and aquaculture, while the rest Rs 9,000 crore will be spent for creating infrastructure such as fishing harbours, cold-chain and markets.

Sitharaman also announced the launch of a National Animal Disease Control Programme for Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Brucellosis' with a total outlay of Rs 13,343 crore.

The minister further announced an Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund worth Rs 15,000 crore to encourage the establishment of processing plants for export of niche products.

Besides, a Rs 10,000 crore cluster-based manufacturing scheme for nutritional products was also announced by the minister.