Not poll oriented says Piyush Goyal on budget

Mumbai, Feb 09: Finance minister Piyush Goyal said the measures announced in the interim budget 2019 were not taken keeping in mind the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

"The budget was not election oriented, there were 100 things on the table... Issues of need and urgency could not wait," Goyal said at a CII event.

To address the distress in the farm sector, the government in the budget announced to provide Rs 6,000 per year to farmers in three instalments under a scheme to be fully funded by the Central government.

Defending the move, Goyal said the support for small farmers announced in the budget were not a dole but was the government's duty towards them.

The finance minister said Gujarat and Maharashtra are the two states to furnish details of the farmers who would be benefited by the proposed scheme.