GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 15th March. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ten years in office come to an end, Bharat is guaranteeing progress in every area. In the meantime, it appears that the opposition parties—Congress, the Left, and the AAP—are attempting to corner the Modi administration on a number of economic issues, including those pertaining to women, farmers, and other groups. The opposition claims that since Modi took office, the nation’s economy has gotten worse. The nation’s unemployment rate has gone up. The farmers are extremely worried. The Modi government is causing great dissatisfaction among the youth and other segments of the population, but is this really the case?
All the statistics point to the current Center government’s advantage in this regard. In a situation like this, people are naturally curious about the source of these false figures from the opposition political parties! The Supreme Court (SC) would never have stated that “Bharat’s economy is getting recognition all over the world” if the country was not currently experiencing economic growth. It is something for the nation to be proud of. Indeed, every Bharatiya today ought to comprehend the profound significance of the Supreme Court’s remark if it is being made. While the opposition has a point, the court, impartial to both sides, states only what is true or nearly true.
From this vantage point, we ought to comprehend the court’s ruling and take it at face value. All of the global financial agencies are currently showcasing data showing how quickly Bharat is developing in every industry. Bharat is rated as having the fastest pace of development worldwide. This is also true because, out of all the major nations in the world, Bharat is growing at the fastest rate.
It would be beneficial for many nations to take note of how quickly the economy has developed as a result of the revolutionary shifts in industries and digital infrastructure.
In the last ten years, this government has done a lot of work for farmers, even with the help of the farmers’ movement, some anti Modi organisations tried to corner the Modi government at the center. The minimum support price for each of the 22 crops was, for the first time, set at least 50% above cost. Farmers received 23.58 crore soil health cards up until December of last year, which included information about the composition and nutrient status of their soil. This makes it simple for them to determine which of the crops in their fields will yield the highest profit.
Agriculture budget increased five times during Modi government; Reached Rs 1.37 lakh crore to Rs 7.27 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. It became Rs 7.27 lakh crore. It must be said that recognizing the invaluable contribution of farmers in taking the economy forward, the Modi government at the Center has increased assistance through many policies and schemes. These policies provide significant financial assistance to farmers and also reduce their hardships. These schemes enable the farmer to support their 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 in terms of insurance premium.
These schemes brought improvement in the standard of living of farmers
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 INDIASMTT. DROUPADI MURMU TO PARLIAMENT, January 31, 2024). Every year, direct financial assistance is being 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 thousand 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 causes. Their livelihoods are protected and financial ruin is 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 10 years of the Modi government’s tenure, there has been a three-fold increase in easy loans from banks to farmers. Through such initiatives and schemes and other programmes, the government is helping ‘Annadata’ in producing 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 Formalization 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 mechanization till December 2023. So far, an amount of Rs 141.41 crore has been released from the Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (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 mechanization got a boost, positive results are coming
It must be said that the government has actively promoted digital inclusion and mechanization to boost productivity. The launch of the digital platform e-NAM (National Agriculture Market) in 2016 has facilitated integration of Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees (APMC) mandis and provided multidimensional benefits to farmers, farmer-producer organizations (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 computerizing 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 28 February 2023.
The challenges of population growth are no less; food supplies continued to be supplied and food was sent to foreign countries as well.
It is worth noting here that the population of Bharat is continuously increasing, along with it food supply is also a challenge, in such a situation, new scientific research and how the farmer can get more yield from less water and requirements, 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 10 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, Bharatiya agriculture has demonstrated perseverance and strength due to the remarkable research done in this field. This has accelerated the pace of economic reform and development in Bharat.
Data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India 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.
Bharat has today 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 Bharatiya horticulture (as per 3rd advance estimate). The agriculture sector, which is estimated to account for 18 percent of Bharat’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 establishment 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, Bharat’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)
Launch of 100% neem coated urea in the country successful
More than Rs 11 lakh crore has been spent in 10 years to provide fertilizers to farmers at affordable prices. The government has established more than 1.75 lakh Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samridhi Kendras. So far, around 8,000 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) have been formed. The introduction of 100% neem coated urea has been successful in the country. In the last 10 years, urea production which was 225 lakh metric tonnes in 2014, 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 emphasizing on the adoption of sustainable farming practices, many components of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY-PDMC) and promotion of natural farming to transform agriculture.
Cooperation gets a boost in 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 Center 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, branding. I am constantly engaged.
Other similar agricultural development works are being successfully carried out across the country through the Central Government. In fact, there are other sectors in the country like agriculture, in which too the BJP-Modi government at the Center seems to be doing very good work. In such a situation, when any comment of the Supreme Court comes regarding the economic development of Bharat, then its importance definitely increases even more. Justice Surya Kant’s bench in the Supreme Court today has rightly said that “The whole world is recognizing Bharat. Whenever we go out of the country, we realize how strong Bharat is moving forward with its economy and all this is based on facts and figures. We should all be proud of this.”
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