Stressing on the need to encourage agriculture diversification programmes, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Sunday urged Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to treat animal husbandry on a par with agriculture for income tax (IT) exemption. This will motivate a majority of farmers for taking up allied farming on one hand and promote diversification of agriculture on the other, Badal added.
In a letter to the Union Finance Minister, Badal apprised Jaitley of the agriculture sector gradually becoming un-remunerative and thus agriculture diversification was a need of the hour. Citing that animal husbandry could emerge as a strong viable alternative, Badal said that this could only happen if this sector was incentivised on the same lines as agriculture.
Since agriculture was a major source of livelihood to the majority of Indian population and henceforth, the Centre had been providing various incentives and subsidy to this sector, added Badal.