A
Apoorva Devanshi
Guest
In the nation’s capital, police is extremely vigilant. The public is concerned because of the traffic jams caused by the protests. What gave rise to this situation? The ‘Dilli Chalo‘ march! The alleged Punjabi farmers have fled their fields and barns and are currently battling with the police near the Haryana border as they attempt to reach Delhi.
The players are performing all this drama in the name of farmers’ welfare and agriculture to arm twist the Prime Minister. People raised slogans like “Modi nu thalle leyana hai”, which translates into bringing down Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Posters endorsing Khalistan are visible. Basically, in the guise of farmer protest, attempts are being made to create instability in the country. Opposition parties, including the Congress party, are supporting this.
All this to portray that the present Government is Anti Farmer. But has Modi really done nothing for the farmers of our country?
The protest by farmers seems to have political motivations at its core. As opposed to the previous Kisan Andolan, which focused on agricultural laws. No such law is being challenged this time around but vague and illogical demands are being raised. Moreover, in Punjab, political parties like the Congress and AAP have been accused of financial mismanagement. This along with the Khalistan angle seems to have created a concoction of current protests. They are raising outrageous demands by exploiting the farmer protest.
In my view, the government under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi has taken steps to reform the agricultural sector. As a result of which the condition of farmers has improved and production has also significantly increased.
The post Sowing Seeds of Progress: Agricultural Sector Under Modi appeared first on The Jaipur Dialogues.
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The players are performing all this drama in the name of farmers’ welfare and agriculture to arm twist the Prime Minister. People raised slogans like “Modi nu thalle leyana hai”, which translates into bringing down Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Posters endorsing Khalistan are visible. Basically, in the guise of farmer protest, attempts are being made to create instability in the country. Opposition parties, including the Congress party, are supporting this.
All this to portray that the present Government is Anti Farmer. But has Modi really done nothing for the farmers of our country?
Let’s Take A Look At How Agricultural Sector Has Transformed In Last 10 years-
- The production of food grains has reached record highs over the past 10 years. Pulse Production has grown 60% in last 10 years. Bharat Dal now has 25% market share of Gram lentil within 4 months of its launch.
- PM-Kisan Sampada Yojana has benefitted 38 lakh farmers and generated 10 Lakh employment opportunities.
- More than 11 crores farmers have received over ₹2.81 lakh crores directly into their bank accounts through the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme. In Punjab, 8.5 Lakh farmers benefited from this scheme.
- Kisan Fasal Bima Yojana has provided crop insurance to 4 crore farmers. It has provided insurance to 5549.40 lakh farmers applicants and paid out claims totaling Rs 150589.10 crore since 2016-17.
- To modernise agriculture and lessen the drudgery of farming operations, agricultural mechanisation is absolutely essential. The government has allocated a total of Rs. 6405.55 crore for agricultural mechanisation from 2014–15 to December 2023. Farmers have received a total of 15,23,650 subsidized machines and equipment.
- When Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, the MSP for wheat was Rs 1475 per quintal and for paddy was Rs 1310. Now, for the 2023–24 crop season, the MSP for paddy and wheat Rs 2183 and Rs 2200 per quintal, respectively. The MSP for wheat has increased by about 50%, while the MSP for paddy has increased by 66.6% from 2014. The table below shows the MSP for other crops-
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The government has raised the MSP for millet by 106% since 2014. In 2014, Arhar dal’s MSP was Rs 4300 per quintal now, it is Rs 7000 per quintal. Overall, the MSP has increased by 62%. It was
- According to Government reports, the government procured 761 lakh metric tonnes of the crop at MSP in 2014–15. For 2022–2024, this amount has increased to 1062 lakh tonnes. Thus, procurement has increased by 30%. This has benefitted more than 1.6 crore farmers.
- Apart from MSP, fertiliser subsidies have tripled. In 2014–15, the fertiliser subsidy was Rs 73,067 crore. The amount reached Rs 2.54 lakh crore by 2022–2023.
- The government introduced the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) with a budget of 1 lakh crore to improve agricultural infrastructure. Then to boost institutional credit, Kisan credit cards scheme is being utilised. With a sanctioned credit limit of Rs. 5,69,974 crore, 465.42 lakh new Kisan credit card applications have been approved thus far.
- Government have initiated schemes like Krishi Vikas yojana, Matsya Sampada yojana, Rashtriya Gokul Mission and Atmanirbhar Oilseed Abhiyaan etc., to increase farmers income. Covering the entire chain from Production to the sale of produce via dedicated schemes like e-NAM.
- In the last 10 years, the budgetary allocation has increased 5 times from UPA allocated 29,607 crores to 1,27,467 crores in 2024-25. This shows a 436% increase in budgetary allocation. Because of dedicated schemes agricultural exports for FY 2022-23 stand at $53 Billion.
Reality of Farmer Protests-
The protest by farmers seems to have political motivations at its core. As opposed to the previous Kisan Andolan, which focused on agricultural laws. No such law is being challenged this time around but vague and illogical demands are being raised. Moreover, in Punjab, political parties like the Congress and AAP have been accused of financial mismanagement. This along with the Khalistan angle seems to have created a concoction of current protests. They are raising outrageous demands by exploiting the farmer protest.
In my view, the government under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi has taken steps to reform the agricultural sector. As a result of which the condition of farmers has improved and production has also significantly increased.
The post Sowing Seeds of Progress: Agricultural Sector Under Modi appeared first on The Jaipur Dialogues.
Continue reading...