Initiatives of Department of Agriculture to promote farming and allied sectors during lockdown
Part of: GS Prelims and GS-II – Agriculture; Welfare Schemes
In News:
Exemptions have been given by Government of India for agricultural operations keeping in view the harvesting and sowing season.
Key takeaways:
The All India Agri Transport Call Centre has been launched. It is set up for coordination between States for inter-state movement of perishable commodities.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme about 8 crores farmers have been benefitted.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PM-GKY) large amount of pulses have been dispatched for delivery to the States/UTs.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), around Rs.2000 crores of insurance claims have been disbursed to the beneficiary farmers.
Decision has been taken for providing 2% Interest Subvention (IS) to Banks and 3% Prompt Repayment Incentive (PRI) to farmers for the extended period of the lockdown.
Important value additions:
Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi
It is an initiative by the government of India in which all farmers will get up to ₹6,000 per year as minimum income support.
Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PM-GKY)
During the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in India, Finance Minister announced a ₹1.70 Lakh Crore ($24 billion) relief package under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana for the poor.
The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana(PMFBY)
It is an insurance service for farmers for their yields.
It was formulated in line with One Nation–One Scheme theme by replacing earlier two schemes National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS)
It aims to reduce the premium burden on farmers and ensure early settlement of crop assurance claims for the full insured sum.
Interest Subvention
The interest subvention scheme for farmers aims at providing short term credit to farmers at subsidised interest rate.
