The first hour of Arun Jaitley's Budget speech in the parliament today was mostly about famers, rural livelihood and social security. A slew of announcements, including minimum support price for farmers, easily accessible markets, disposal of crop residue, development reforms were made in the speech.
With respect to farmers, the Union Budget 2018 has put emphasis on staying true to government's promise of doubling farmers' income. To this end, Jaitley kept minimum support price or MSP of kharif crops at one and a half times the production cost of the crops. Minimum Support Price is the price at which government purchases crops from farmers.