New Delhi:
Hours before farmers resume their march to Delhi, sources at the Center have said that the Narendra Modi government has taken several pro-farmer steps during its decade in power, including an increase in budgetary allocation for agriculture and relief under of the PM-Kisan programme. and the Kisan credit card system.
“The budget allocation has been increased by 5.26 times in 2023-2024 compared to the year 2013-2014,” a source said, adding that the budgets of the past decade have emphasized on promoting the agriculture sector through technology , so that farmers receive comprehensive information about the agricultural sector. long-term benefits.
The government has been transferring Rs 6,000 annually to farmers' bank accounts since December 2018. “An amount of Rs. 2.81 lakh crore has been given in cash to over 11 crore farmers,” the source said.
The sources also mentioned steps such as setting up new farmer producer organizations to provide support to small farmers and an infrastructure fund scheme.
The government sources raised arguments on how it has been working towards increasing the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for various crops. MSP is a price fixed by the government and is intended to protect farmers from distress sales of their produce. One of the main reasons why the talks between the farmers and the Center are breaking down is a disagreement over which MSP formula should be followed. The farmers say the government's conditions for providing MSP would only provide livelihood and not income.
The government has increased the MSP for mandatory kharif, rabi and other commercial crops with a return of at least 50 percent on the total India weighted average cost of production between 2018 and 2019, according to sources.
The sources added that government purchases from farmers have also increased. “The tender under PSS (Price Support Scheme) during the year 2021-2022, a quantity of 31,82,591.64 tonnes of pulses, oilseeds and copra of MSP value of Rs. 17,478.31 crore of which 14,68,699 farmers are benefiting and during the 2022-2023 season a quantity of 40,02,057.73 tonnes of pulses, oilseeds and copra with an MSP value of Rs. 22,728.23 crore had been realised, out of which 17,27,663 farmers were benefited,” said a source.
According to the sources, the government has earmarked a credit outlay of Rs 20 lakh crore for farmers in 2023-24 under the Kisan Credit Card scheme. The benefits of the scheme, they said, have also been extended to livestock and fisheries farmers to meet short-term working capital needs.
The government sources also underlined its emphasis on millet production by listing how it used national and international forums to highlight the benefits of millet consumption and step up research into its production.
The Centre's steps to tackle air pollution in Delhi were also highlighted. “In support of the efforts of Government of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi to tackle air pollution due to crop residue burning, funds worth Rs.3138, during 2018-2018, have been 56 crores released to these states. 19 to 2022-2023, for crop residue management through mechanization interventions,” said a source.
Sources in the government explained how the Center had expanded crop insurance under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. To buttress their views, they claimed that food grain production increased from 265.05 million tonnes in 2013-14 to 329.69 million tonnes in 2022-2023 – the highest ever. The Kisan Rail initiative has been started to prevent farmers' produce from spoiling, they said.