PM to launch 10,000 Farmer Producer Organizations; also to lay foundation stone for Bundelkhand Expressway
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| pmkisan |
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today laid
foundation stone for the Bundelkhand Expressway and launched the Har Ghar Jal
Scheme to provide piped water to the households in Bundelkhand region.
Prime Minister also launched 10 thousand farmers Producer
Organisations FPO all over the country on this occasion and distributed Kisan
Credit Cards (KCC) to the beneficiaries of the PM-Kisan scheme.
Kisan Credt Card being given to the beneficiaries of PM Kisan
scheme will help farmers in availing short term loan using these cards. A
massive distribution drive is being held today during which KCCs will be issued
to farmers at bank branches spread across the country.
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Bundelkhand Expressway and Har Ghar Jal Yojna will be
instrumental in solving the 2 major problems of Bundelakhand region that is
drinking water and unemployment.
The proposed Bundelkhand expressway will not only connect this
backward region to the national capital region but will also support the nodes
of Bundelakhnd Defence industrial corridor.
Today launched farmers Producer Organisations FPOs will help
small, marginal and landless farmers in order to give them access to
technology, quality seed, fertilizers and pesticides including helping them in
marketing of their products. The Centre will provide fund of Rs 15 lakh to each
FPO.
The Union ministries are busy creating profiles of the
beneficiaries of various welfare schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan
Yojna, Ayushman Bharat, PM Kisan Scheme and Standup India in the states
including Bihar and West Bengal that will go for polls soon. “The Central
government has launched various schemes in the last few months. We are creating
the financial profiles of states, in terms of how people have availed benefits
of various government schemes, especially the flagship ones. It will help us
get the socio-economic profiling of the states,” said an official from the
department of financial services under the Ministry of Finance.
While this seems to be a routine exercise, the various
ministries have been asked to start with states that will go for assembly
elections in the next one year. The survey will start with Bihar, West Bengal,
Assam, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. All these states will go for polls in next one
year. According to the official, the internal survey will include the
number of bank account holders, beneficiaries of PM Kisan Yojana, Housing
for All and Standup India initiatives, among others. Apart from these, it
will also create a database of the number of subscribers for the national
pension scheme, saving patterns, among others.
“This exercise will help understand the economic development in
these regions. While states maintain their own profiles, some states like West
Bengal are not very cooperative when it comes to participation in some of the
Centre-sponsored schemes. This review of schemes, therefore, becomes
significant,” said another senior official. The exercise is a direct fallout of
the Delhi election results, where despite intensive campaigns led by Union home
minister Amit Shah in the last four weeks before polls, the BJP lost to Aam
Admi Party, whose campaign was solely based on social welfare schemes. Now
with assembly elections scheduled in Bihar in October and in Assam, Kerala,
Tamil Nadu and West Bengal in May, the ruling party is focusing closely on the
economic issues, unemployment and financial inclusion.
M Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana has benefited a total of 8.45 crore
farming families in the country with an addition of more than 37 lakh families
in the current financial year since the launch of the scheme in February 2019,
latest government data show. According to the agri-census estimate, a total of
14 crore families need to be included under the ambit of the scheme, Union
Minister of Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar said on Monday.
The government has spent a total of Rs 50,850 crore under the scheme
so far since its inception in February 2019, out of the allocation of Rs 75000
crore, Tomar said. According to the minister, the PM Kisan scheme is aiming at
including another 12 lakh families in the current financial year. Tomar said
that the financial aid scheme will play a major role in doubling the
farmers’income by 2022.
West Bengal which has not joined the scheme has a major chunk of
uncovered families. Apart from West Bengal, the penetration in the state of
Bihar is also sub-par. A total of 1.31 crore families need to be covered in
Bihar and West Bengal, the government estimate shows. The government data also
show that more than 84 per cent of the beneficiaries’ details have been Aadhaar
verified.
PM Kisan Yojana was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in
the year 2019 which entails the transfer of Rs 6000 a year to every farming
family in three instalments of Rs 2000.
New initiatives for PM-Kisan beneficiaries
On Monday, a new PM-Kisan mobile phone app
was launched by the Agriculture Minister. The beneficiaries of PM Kisan scheme
will be able to track their application, make corrections in their application
with their Aadhaar number and would also be able to see their credit history on
the app.
The government has also launched the
farmer’s corner on the PM Kisan online portal where farmers can self-register
to claim the benefits of the scheme. Aadhaar card correction and beneficiary
status can also be tracked on the portal. A 24.7 helpline toll-free number
1800-11-5526 has also been launched on which farmers can call and get to know
the status of their application.
Kisan Credit Card (KCC) drive
Tomar also informed that a massive drive
will be launched in the country on February 29 to provide Kisan Credit Cards
(KCC) to the beneficiary farmers. Two thousand bank branches have been tasked
to organise a massive campaign across the country on the day to provide the
farmers with the KCC. As part of the programme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi
will himself hand over the KCC to some farmer families at UP’s Chitrakoot on
February 29.
Kisan Samman Nidhi target lowered to
12 crore
One year after the launch of the Pradhan
Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, the Centre has revised the farmer income support
scheme’s beneficiary target down to just under 12 crore from 14 crore.
In fact, empirical evidence suggests that
saturation level will reach around 10 crore families. So far, almost 8.5 crore
farmers have benefited.
Speaking at an event to mark the first
anniversary, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar pointed to West Bengal
and Bihar as the major culprits for the lag. While the West Bengal government
has refused to join the scheme at all, the Bihar government’s approach of
waiting for applicants means more than 60% of potential beneficiaries are yet
to register.
The scheme, which gives land-owning farmer
families an annual sum of ₹6,000, was launched in the run-up to the 2019 Lok
Sabha election, and new registrations have slowed after the election.
The Centre’s beneficiary estimate of 14
crore was initially based on the number of landholdings recorded in the
agricultural land census.
The revised estimate of 11.97 crore is
based on the 9.84 crore who have registered themselves on the portal so far
(although only 8.45 crore have received money so far), plus an estimated 2.13
crore beneficiaries left out, mostly from West Bengal and Bihar. However,
“empirical evidence suggests that saturation level will reach around 10 crore
farmer families,” according to a presentation made at the event.
Mr. Tomar pointed out that of West Bengal’s
70 lakh farmers, 10 lakh have already self-registered through an online
process. However, they cannot receive the cash benefit until the database is
verified by the State government, he said.
“Central government officials have
approached the State government about this many times and I have also written
to the Chief Minister twice, urging the State to join the scheme. But we have
not received any reply as yet,” Mr. Tomar said, pointing out the State’s
economy would stand to benefit with a potential annual payout of ₹4,000 crore
if all the State’s farmers registered themselves for the scheme.
In Bihar, the potential beneficiaries
number 158 lakh. However, only 59.7 lakh farmers have uploaded their data on
the PM-KISAN portal so far. “The State has adopted a beneficiary
application-based approach, which is delaying identification and upload,” said
the presentation.
35 lakh farmers in TS benefitted from PM Kisan Samman Nidhi
The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, a Centrally sponsored
scheme on the lines of Rytu Bandhu but with several filters to identify
beneficiaries, has completed one year and enrolled 34.81 lakh farmers which is
about half their total strength in Telangana.
The scheme was formally launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi
at Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh on February 24.
Observers feel the assistance of ₹ 6,000 per annum provided under
the scheme as an income support to all landholding farmers’ families had not
had much impact on agriculture because of the small size of amounts transferred
to their bank accounts. A sum of ₹ 2,000 was transferred to accounts in three
instalments but the periodicity of release was not maintained. The releases
were made irrespective of the seasons and at odd intervals to suit nationwide
interests.
The Samman Nidhi is applicable solely to BPL families as against
comprehensive coverage of farmers based on their land holdings in Rytu Bandhu.
The acreage was not a parameter but family, irrespective of its holding, was
considered in Samman Nidhi.
Sources expressed the hope that the scheme would be beneficial
to farmers if it was streamlined systematically. It could supplement the income
of farmers under Rytu Bandhu wherein they get ₹ 5,000 per acre per season.
Farmers accessing Rythu Bandhu were also eligible for Samman Nidhi provided
they fulfilled the criteria.
The scheme excluded Income-Tax payees, government employees
above Class IV, retired employees other than subordinate services, public
servants, professionals and land holders above below poverty line. The Centre
had so far released over ₹ 50,850 crore to about 8.46 crore farmers out of the
targeted 14 crore in the country. The scheme was initially meant for farmers
holding land up to two hectares but it was extended to cover all farmer
families irrespective of the size of their holdings from June 1 last year.
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