Making a strong re-election pitch, the BJP-led NDA government announced the biggest income tax sops for middle class, including complete exemption for income up to Rs 5 lakh, and Rs 6,000 annual cash dole to poor farmers in a scheme that will cost Rs 75,000 crore per year.

As was widely anticipated, he announced an income support scheme for 12 crore small and marginal farmers by providing Rs 6,000 in their bank accounts in three equal instalments in a year.

The eligibility for the scheme, called Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, will be ownership of less than 2 hectares of cultivable land. The scheme will be implemented from the current fiscal year, where it will cost Rs 20,000 crore.

For the next fiscal year, the allocation will jump to Rs 75,000 crore

The farm income support scheme will result in the government breaching its 3.3 per cent fiscal deficit target from the current year.

Ashok Dalwai, additional secretary at the ministry of agriculture and Ramesh Chand, member of NITI Aayog analysed what the interim budget means for the farm sector.