PM Modi officially launches ‘One Nation One Fertilizer’ & releases ₹16,000 cr under PM-KISAN scheme
Before Diwali and the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, the Centre will send more than ₹16,000 crores to more than eight crore farmers as the 12th installment of the flagship PM-KISAN scheme, which was due in August. Under the ‘One Nation, One Fertilizer’ plan, the government will also start selling the Bharat Urea bag.
PM Narendra Modi will help with the transfer of funds under Direct Benefit Transfer at an event called PM Kisan Samman Sammelan 2022, which starts on October 17 and lasts for two days. Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said this on Saturday. The prime minister will also open 600 PM Kisan Samruddhi Kendras (PM-KSKs), which are being set up by fertilizer companies with help from the department of fertilizers.
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Himachal Pradesh’s election dates have already been set by the Election Commission. Gujarat’s dates will also be set soon. According to official data, 66.21 million farmers in Gujarat benefit from the PM-Kisan scheme, while 9.95 million farmers in Himachal Pradesh do.
Modi will talk to farmers, agri-startups, researchers, government officials, bankers, and other important people after the inauguration, but he will not. With the goal of bringing farmers and agri-startups together, Tomar said that over one crore farmers would virtually attend the event. He said this would connect 732 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), 150 ICAR institutes and state agriculture universities, 50,000 Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACs), and 2 lakh Community Service Centres (CSCs), he said.
The PM-KISAN scheme, which started in February 2019, gives eligible land-owning farmer families ₹6,000 per year in three equal payments of ₹2,000 each, given every four months from April to July, August to November, and December to March. The payment is sent straight to the bank accounts of the people who will get it. Under PM-KISAN, farmers have gotten more than ₹2 lakh crore in the last 11 installments. Tomar said that as much as ₹1.6 lakh crore was moved during the Covid pandemic.
ONOF Plan Launch
Modi will officially launch the One Nation One Fertilizer (ONOF) plan on October 17. It was supposed to start on October 2. During the event, the prime minister will announce the Bharat urea bags. The Centre has made it a requirement for companies that sell fertilizer to sell their products under one brand name, ‘Bharat.’ From now on, fertilizers will only be sold as ‘Bharat Urea, Bharat DAP, Bharat MOP, and Bharat NPK’ from now on. This will cut down on their movement back and forth.
The Center wants to turn the 3.3 lakh fertilizer retail shops in the country, which are owned by co-ops or private individuals who work as dealers for companies, into one-stop shops that provide agri-inputs (fertilizers, seeds, and tools), soil testing services, and information on government programs. At least one store in each district will be changed to the PM-KSK model, of which 600 are ready to go. Sources say that the government told each company that it had to change at least 20 shops in different places.
Modi will also open an ‘Agri Startup Conclave and Exhibition,’ where about 300 of the expected 1,500 start-ups will show off their innovations in precision farming, post-harvest, and value-added solutions, waste to wealth, mechanization, supply chain management, and argi-logistics on the first day.
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The Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana-Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied Sector Rejuvenation (RKVY-RAFTAAR), which was renamed from the previous RKVY scheme, was started by the Agriculture Ministry in 2017 to help agri-startups in the country. Under this, the center gives up to ₹5 lakh to start-ups in the pre-seed stage and up to ₹25 lakh to start-ups in the seed stage.
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