Calling it an "unprecedented" decision, Badal said the allocation for observing the tenth Sikh Guru's birthday celebrations was a matter of great pride and a "supreme gift" for Sikhs across the globe.
He welcomed the government's allocation of nearly Rs 36,000 crore for the farm sector and the raising of agri-credit target to Rs 9 lakh crore for the next fiscal, saying the measures would go a long way in ensuring well-being of the agricultural community.
Badal also expressed happiness over the decision to encourage farmers to take up allied farming activities to supplement their income.
He hailed the decision of creating a dedicated long-term irrigation fund in NABARD with an initial corpus of Rs 20,000 crore to build irrigation facilities and initiation of a programme for sustainable management of ground water resources at an estimated cost of Rs 6,000 crore.
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He said the move to set up a Higher Education Financing
The Chief Minister said announcements like introduction of an animal wellness programme ('Pashudhan Sanjivani') and provision of Animal Health Cards ('Nakul Swasthya Patra'), creation of 'E-Pashudhan Haat' -- an e-market portal for connecting breeders and farmers, and a National Genomic Centre for indigenous breeds would go a long way in making allied farming sector more remunerative to farmers.
(Reopens NRG 25)
Meanwhile, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh today termed the Union Budget "most disappointing" and said it "failed" on everybody's expectations.
The PPCC president alleged the agriculture sector does not figure prominently in the Budget.
"There has been no provision for providing relief to the debt-ridden farmers driven to despair and suicides in so many states. Leave aside waiving off their debt, there is not even nominal relief or word of consolation for them," the MP said.