Prime Minister Narendra Modi is completing ten years of his tenure; with this, India is ensuring development in every sector. Meanwhile, opposition parties, including Congress, Leftists, and AAP, are seen trying to corner the Modi Government at the centre on the economic front, including farmers, women and many other issues. The Opposition is crying hoarse that the country has become economically weaker under Modi’s rule. Unemployment has increased in the country; farmers are very worried. Be it the youth of the country or anyone else, everyone is very unhappy with the Modi Government; But is this factually true? In this regard, all the figures are going in favour of the present Government at the Centre. In such a rumour-mongering situation, there is a definite curiosity to know the sources from where the Opposition political parties bring such fake figures! If India was not developing on the economic front today, the Supreme Court (SC) would never say that ‘India’s economy is getting recognition all over the world. The country should be proud of this’.
In fact, if the Supreme Court is giving such a comment, then it has a very deep meaning, which should be understood by every Indian today. Whatever the opposition is saying can be kept aside, but the court, without any favour or Opposition, says only what is true or close to the truth. From this point of view, we should understand what the court said and accept it as truth. Today, all the financial agencies of the world are presenting figures on how India is progressing rapidly in every field. Every rating places India at number one in terms of its pace of development. This is appreciated by economic watchdogs because India’s growth rate is the fastest among all the big countries in the world.
The pace of development that has been given by the revolutionary policy changes in industries and digital infrastructure in the economy is worth learning from for many countries around the world. Even though the farmers’ movement is a movement through which efforts are being made to corner the Modi Government at the Centre, a lot of work has been done for those farmers in the last ten years under this Government. For the first time, the minimum support price (MSP) of all 22 crops was set at least 50 per cent more than the cost. Till December last year, 23.58 crore soil health cards have been distributed to farmers to provide them with information about the nutrient status and composition of their farm soil. With this, they easily know which crops in their fields will bring them the most profit.
The agricultural budget increased five times during the Modi Government, reaching Rs 7.27 lakh crore from Rs 1.37 lakh crore.
The budget earmarked for agriculture during the previous Congress Government was Rs 1.37 lakh crore, which has increased 5 times in the last ten years. This has become Rs 7.27 lakh crore. It must be said that recognising the invaluable contribution of farmers in taking the economy forward, the Modi Government at the Centre has increased assistance through many farmer-friendly policies and schemes. These policies provide significant financial assistance to farmers and also reduce their hardships. These schemes enable the farmer to support his family properly. Now, just look at the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY); it has become the world’s largest crop insurance scheme in terms of farmer enrolment. It is also the third largest scheme in the world today in terms of insurance premiums.
These schemes brought improvement to farmers’ standard of living.
In this context, it has to be said that today, initiatives like ‘Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maandhan Yojana (PM-KMY), Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) and Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) are playing an important role in providing financial and income support to the farmers. The Government has given priority to more than 10 crore small farmers in the country’s agricultural policy and schemes.’ (ADDRESS BY THE HON’BLE PRESIDENT OF INDIA SMT. DROUPADI MURMU IN PARLIAMENT, January 31, 2024). Every year, direct financial assistance is provided to 11.8 crore farmers, including marginal and small farmers, through PM-Kisan Samman Yojana. Farmers have so far received an amount of more than Rs 2.80 lakh crore under the scheme.
Under the Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme, crop insurance is being given to 4 crore farmers. This comprehensive crop insurance policy ensures that farmers are protected against non-preventable natural calamities destroying destroy crops. Their livelihoods are protected, and financial losses are prevented in case of unexpected disasters. Under this scheme, farmers deposited a premium of Rs 30 thousand crores. In return, they got a claim of Rs 1.5 lakh crore. The Government is also providing pension benefits to 23.4 lakh small and marginal farmers enrolled under PM-KMY. In the last ten years of the Modi Government’s tenure, there has been a three-fold increase in easy loans from banks to farmers. Through such initiatives, schemes, and other programmes, the Government is helping ‘Annadata’ (Food givers) for providing food grains for the country and the world.
Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana has benefited 38 lakh farmers and created 10 lakh employment opportunities. Pradhan Mantri Micro Food Processing Enterprises Formalisation Scheme has provided credit linkage assistance to 2.4 lakh SHGs and sixty thousand individuals. Other schemes are complementing efforts to reduce post-harvest losses and improve productivity and incomes. Under the BJP rule at the Centre, an amount of Rs 6405.55 crore was allocated for agricultural mechanisation till December 2023. So far, an amount of Rs 141.41 crore has been released from the Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanisation (SMAM) fund for farmer Drone promotion, in which 317 drones were purchased for demonstration in 79070 hectares of land. This year, till January 31, 2024, 1.77 crore farmers and 2.53 lakh traders have been registered on the e-NAM portal.
Digital inclusion and mechanisation got a boost; positive results are coming.
It must be said that the Government has actively promoted digital inclusion and mechanisation to boost productivity. The launch of the digital platform e-NAM (National Agriculture Market) in 2016 has facilitated the integration of Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees (APMC) mandis and provided multidimensional benefits to farmers, farm-producer organisations (FPOs), buyers and traders. The number of markets linked to the e-NAM platform has reached 1,389 since the coming of the Modi Government.
More than 1.8 crore farmers and 2.5 lakh traders are registered on the platform, which promotes market opportunities through a transparent price discovery system and online payment facility. The Government is taking steps to strengthen the cooperative movement by computerising Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS). Along with this, the launch of Kisan Rail can also be considered a big initiative of the Modi Government, under which 2359 services have been operated on 167 routes till February 28 2023.
The challenges of population growth are no less; Still, food supplies continue, and food is sent to foreign countries as well.
It is worth noting here that the population of India is continuously increasing, and along with it, food supply is also a challenge; in such a situation, new scientific research on how the farmer can get more yield from less water is necessary for this. The amount of work done on new seeds has not been seen in any previous Government. That is, if we compare the last 65 years and ten years, then the time from 2014 till now is so fast in terms of agricultural research that it seems to be completing more work than 65 years. This is why, despite the challenges posed by the global health crisis and variability in climatic conditions, Indian agriculture has demonstrated perseverance and strength due to the remarkable research done in this field. This has accelerated the pace of economic reforms and development in India.
Data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, today show that total food grains production for FY23 was 329.7 million tonnes, which is 14.1 million tonnes more than the previous year. The average food grain production per year from FY 2015 to FY 2023 was 289 million tonnes, while it was limited to a maximum of 233 million tonnes in FY 2005 to FY 2014. There has been a record increase in the production of rice, wheat, pulses, nutritious/coarse grains and oilseeds.
India has become the largest producer of milk, pulses, and spices in the world. It is the second-largest producer of fruits, vegetables, tea, fish, sugarcane, wheat, rice, cotton and sugar. Horticulture production was 355.25 million tonnes, which is the highest ever for Indian horticulture (as per 3rd advance estimate). The agriculture sector, which is estimated to account for 18 per cent of India’s GVA in FY 2024, is the backbone of the country’s economy.
Huge increase in agricultural exports, reaches Rs 4.2 lakh crore
Similarly, since the inception of the Agricultural Infrastructure Fund, Rs 35,262 crore has been sanctioned for 48,352 projects. Major projects sanctioned under AIF include 11,165 warehouses, 10,307 primary processing units, 10,948 custom hiring centres, 2,420 sorting and grading units, 1,486 cold store projects, 169 assay units and about 11,857 other types of post-harvest management projects and community farming assets included.
For the first time, the Government has made an agricultural export policy in the country. Hence, “The improved performance is also reflected in the huge surge in agricultural exports, which have reached Rs 4.2 lakh crore in FY 2023, surpassing the previous year’s record. Given opportunities and appropriate policy formulation, India’s farmers have demonstrated their ability to meet the food demands of the rest of the world. There are even better possibilities in the future.” (INTERIM BUDGET 2024-2025, SPEECH OF NIRMALA SITHARAMAN, MINISTER OF FINANCE)
Successful launch of 100 per cent neem coated urea in the country
More than Rs 11 lakh crore has been spent in 10 years to provide fertilisers to farmers at affordable prices. The Government has established more than 1.75 lakh Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samridhi Kendras. So far, around 8,000 Farm Produce Organisations (FPOs) have been formed. The introduction of 100 per cent neem coated urea has been successful in the country. In the last ten years, urea production was 225 lakh metric tonnes in 2014, which has increased to 310 lakh metric tonnes. Since the launch of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana 2015-16, a total fund of Rs 1980.88 crore has been released till January this year. The scheme has created 37,364 clusters (20 hectares each), covered 8.13 lakh hectares area (including LAC) and directly benefited 16.19 lakh farmers. Today, the Modi Government is continuously emphasising the adoption of sustainable farming methods like the Per Drop More Crop component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY-PDMC) and the promotion of natural farming to transform agriculture.
Cooperation gets a boost in the agriculture sector
The Government is promoting cooperation in the agriculture sector. Therefore, for the first time in the country, the Ministry of Cooperation has been established. The world’s largest grain storage scheme has been launched in the cooperative sector. In villages where there are no cooperative societies, 2 lakh societies are being established. In fact, to ensure rapid growth of the sector today. The BJP Government at the Centre is working to promote private and public investment in post-harvest activities, including aggregation, modern storage, efficient supply chain, primary and secondary processing and marketing, and branding.
Other similar agricultural development works are being successfully carried out across the country through the Union Government. In fact, there are other sectors in the country, like agriculture, in which the NDA’s Modi Government at the Centre seems to be doing very good work. In such a situation, when any comment from the Supreme Court comes regarding the economic development of India, its importance definitely increases even more. Justice Surya Kant’s bench in the Supreme Court rightly said today, “The whole world is recognising India. Whenever we go out of the country, we realise how strong the economy is with which India is moving forward…and “It’s all based on facts and figures. We should all be proud of that.”
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