Jaitley 'looks East' in Budget 2018-19 as states go to polls

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's farm largesse in Budget 2019-19 was targeted at upcoming elections in several predominantly agricultural states. However, Jaitley did not ignore the Northeast states going to polls either.

Jaitley's announced to allocate Rs 1,290 crore to promote bamboo sector, calling bamboo the green gold.

In December, Parliament passed a bill to exclude bamboo from the definition of tree under the Indian Forest Act, claiming it would improve the earnings of tribals and dwellers living around forests.


The bill permits felling and transit of bamboo grown in non-forest areas. However, bamboo grown on forest lands would continue to be classified as tree and would be guided by the existing legal restrictions

The government said the major objective was to promote the cultivation of bamboo in non-forest areas and improve farmers' income, keeping in mind the Government's "ambitious" target of doubling farmers' income by 2022.