AGARTALA, Feb 1 (TIWN): Amidst Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar's allegation of NITI Aayog is snatching state's rights as there is now hardly any scope for states to speak before the central govt due to NITI Aayog, the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has upset the Tripura CM once again as he announced NITI Ayog will play a crucial role this time also.Tripura CM also once came in direct verbal fight with NITI Aayog member Vivek Debroy in Northeast summit-2016 regarding the utilization of funds 'checked' by the NITI Aayog.However, while Jaitley has made a big announcement for farmers right at the start of Budget 2018, saying the MSP for crops will be 1.5 times the production cost, the Union Minister added, " NITI-Aayog will keep on hodling talks among states and centre regarding reasonable prices of commodities, placement and other issues".

"India is known for having Agriculture-based economy, but nobody actually thought how to develop area based economy. Every places have their own quality and special for types of production. Govt of India will look after the issue too", added Jaitley.

* National Heritage City Development Augmentation Scheme has been undertaken to preserve and protect heritage cities in the country, announces the Finance Minister.
* Government to contribute 12 per cent of EPF contribution for new employees in all sectors: FM

* Infrastructure is the growth driver of economy: Jaitley

* Target of 3 lakh crore for lending under PM Mudra Yojana: FM

* MSME enterprises are a major element for growth, says Jaitley. He also added that mass formalisation of MSME sector is happening after demonetisation and GST.

* Govt will launch health scheme to cover 10 crore poor families, Arun Jaitley says.

* The Government is slowly but steadily progressing towards universal health coverage: FM

* Government aims to bring 60 crore bank accounts under the Jan Dhan Yojana.

* Eklavya schools to be started for Scheduled Tribe populations: Finance Minister

* Rs 600 crore allocated to Tuberculosis patients undergoing treatment.

* Govt will set up two new Schools of Planning and Architecture, says Finance Minister Jaitley.

* To tackle brain drain, Jaitley announces scheme to identify bright students pursuing B Tech in premiere engineering institutes, and providing them higher-education opportunities in the IITs and IISc. These students will receive handsome fellowships, and will be expected to dedicate a few hours to teach in higher education institutions weekly.

* Specialised railway university to be set up at Vadodara.

* Jaitley proposed integrated BEd programme for teachers: "training of teachers during service is essential." Technology will be the biggest driver in improving the quality of education.

*  Budget allocates money for social security and protection programme for all widows and orphaned children.

* We have a target to provide all Indians with their own homes by 2022, says Jaitley.

* Ujjwala scheme to amplify targets, will now provide 8 crore rural women free LPG connections.

* Air pollution in Delhi-NCR has been a cause of concern, govt has proposed subsidised machinery for in-situ management of crop residue in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT Delhi.

* Govt of India will take necessary measures to put in place measures for the state government to purchase surplus solar power produced by local farmers at sutiable prices.

* Arun Jaitley proposes a sum of Rs 500 crore for 'Operation Green' on the lines of 'Operation Flood'.

* Food processing sector is going at an average of 8 per cent per annum.

* We have been saying it for years that India is primarily an agricultural country: Jaitley

* Arun Jaitley on Minimum Support Price of agricultural products: Only increasing the MSP is not enough, the government will fix the MSP of agricultural products at 1.5 times the market rate.

* Our emphasis is on generating higher benefits and productive employment for the farmers: Jaitley while addressing the agricultural sector in his Budget speech 2018.

* Our government has worked sincerely, and without weighing the political costs, hoping that benefits are delivered to people at their doorsteps. The Direct Benefit Transfer system of India is a success story that is reiterated across the world: Jaitley.

* This year's Budget will particularly focus on agriculture, says Jaitley.

* The finance minister also pointed out that India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

* Indian economy has performed very well since our government took over in May 2014, says Arun Jaitley.