The Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday announced measures to fight malnourishment in the country and boost farmers' income. The announcements were made during a press conference in New Delhi. 

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The government along with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has developed bio-fortified crop varieties, which would have nutrients such as protein, iron, zinc, vitamin A among others, finance minister said in a press conference today. 

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Varieties tolerant to diseases, insects, pests, drought salinity and flooding, early maturing and amenable to mechanical harvesting has developed with ICAR, the finance ministry said. 

In this regard, 21 such varieties of rice, peas, millet, maize, soyabean, quinoa, buckwheat, winged bean, pigeon pea, and sorghum will be dedicated to the nation, she said in a statement  

“Earlier focus of the research was on developing higher yield varieties, however, now the attention towards nutrition, climate resilience, and other traits were missing. Moreover, the concentration of important nutrients was far below the required level, susceptible to biotic and abiotic stresses.” 

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a slew of measures on Monday for the stressed sector, mainly impacted due to the covid situation. She announced mainly eight measures, wherein health, tourism, agriculture and malnourishment were among them.  

She declared a package of Rs 1.1 lakh crore loan guarantee for Covid-affected sectors, in addition, Rs 1.5 lakh crore for Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme as part of Atmanirbhar Bharat package.