Raipur : Road to economic revival runs through agriculture, says Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel

Emphasizing on the role of rural sector in the country’s economy, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel today said that the road to economic revival of the country runs through agriculture and strengthening the rural economy is the only way to ensure overall growth.

Addressing the 7th edition of Indian Economic Conclave here, the Chief Minister said the economy of India largely depends on agriculture, and with a focus on rural economy, Chhattisgarh has chalked out a detailed action plan and have initiated various schemes.
“We believe that the economy will get a boost if, the buying capacity of a comman man increases and for this we need to put money in their pockets and not a select few,” he said.

Replying to the question on where Chhattisgarh stands in the next decade in terms of economy, Mr Baghel said that Chhattisgarh will be a great contributor to the economy as it is a state which is generating employment in rural sector, doing value addition, setting up new industries and exploring the non-core sectors.

On being asked about the economic development of the state during pandemic, the chief Minister said that even in this tough time when there is a slowdown in the economy, Chhattisgarh has emerged as a fighter, showing signs of upward trend in real estate, automobile sector, MGNREGA etc.

“We have been continuously working on improving the state’s economy by giving money in the pockets of the consumers. And this helped us in the tough time. We gave money to farmers though NYAY scheme providing input support price, purchased their produce on MSP, gave maximum employment under MGNREGA all this resulted in giving a boost to the state economy,” Mr Baghel said.

The chief minister said that the state’s goods and services tax (GST) receipts and increased demand for automobile and credited this revival to putting more money in people’s pockets that lead to increased demand.

Mr Baghel said his government brought relief to forest dwellers by increasing procurement prices for purchase of forest produce and ensuring timely record procurement of minor forest produce.
He said apart from focusing just on generating employment, the state is also working on health and education sector.