Farmers set to resume their march towards Delhi after talks fail with Center
New Delhi:
Hours before farmers resumed their march towards Delhi, sources at the Center said the Narendra Modi government has taken several pro-farmer steps during its 10 years of rule, including increasing budget allocation for agriculture. , Assistance is included under PM-Kisan scheme. And Kisan Credit Card System.
A source said, “The budget allocation in 2023-24 has been increased by 5.26 times as compared to the year 2013-14.” He said that in the budget of the last decade, emphasis has been laid on promoting the agriculture sector through technology. So that farmers can get comprehensive benefits. Long term benefits.
Sources said that the government has been transferring Rs 6,000 annually to the bank accounts of farmers since December 2018. “An amount of Rs 2.81 lakh crore has been given in cash to more than 11 crore farmers,” the source said.
Sources also listed steps such as setting up new farmer producer organizations and an infrastructure fund scheme to provide support to small farmers.
Government sources argued how this has worked to increase the minimum support price (MSP) for many crops. MSP is a price fixed by the government and its objective is to save farmers from distress sale of their produce. One of the major reasons behind the failure of talks between farmers and the Center is the disagreement over which MSP formula should be followed. Farmers say the government’s conditions for providing MSP will only provide livelihood, not income.
Sources said the government has increased the MSP for mandatory kharif, rabi and other commercial crops with at least 50 per cent return on all-India weighted average cost of production from 2018-19.
Sources said that government procurement from farmers has also increased. “Procurement of 31,82,591.64 MT of pulses, oilseeds and copra with MSP value of Rs 17,478.31 crore under PSS (Price Support Scheme) during the year 2021-22 benefitted 14,68,699 farmers and during the 2022-23 season a “40,02,057.73 metric tonnes of pulses, oilseeds and copra with MSP value of Rs 22,728.23 crore were supplied, benefiting 17,27,663 farmers,” a source said.
Sources said that under the Kisan Credit Card Scheme, the government has set a credit outlay of Rs 20 lakh crore for farmers in 2023-24. He said that the benefit of the scheme has also been extended to farmers engaged in animal husbandry and fisheries so that they can meet short-term working capital needs.
Government sources also underlined its emphasis on millet production by listing how it used national and international forums to demonstrate the benefits of millet consumption and increase research into its production.
The Centre’s steps to deal with air pollution in Delhi were also put forward. To support the efforts of the Government of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT Delhi to tackle air pollution caused by crop residue burning, a sum of Rs 3138.56 crore has been released to these States during the period 2018. 19 to 2022-23, for crop residue management through mechanization intervention,” a source said.
Government sources told how the Center has expanded crop insurance under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. To strengthen his point, he stressed how food grain production is expected to increase from 265.05 million tonnes in 2013-14 to 329.69 million tonnes in 2022-23 – the highest ever. He said that Kisan Rail initiative has been started to save the farmers’ produce from getting spoiled.
