2-May-2018: Cabinet approves continuation of Umbrella Scheme ‘Green Revolution — Krishonnati Yojana’ in Agriculture Sector
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has given its approval for the Umbrella Scheme, "Green Revolution – Krishonnati Yojana" in agriculture sector beyond 12th Five Year Plan for the period from 2017-18 to 2019-20 with the Central Share of Rs. 33,269.976 crore.
The Umbrella scheme comprises of 11 Schemes/Missions. These schemes look to develop the agriculture and allied sector in a holistic and scientific manner to increase the income of farmers by enhancing production, productivity and better returns on produce. The Schemes will be continued with an expenditure of Rs.33,269.976 crore for three financial years, i.e., 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20.
The Schemes that are part of the Umbrella Schemes are :-
- Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) with a total central share of Rs. 7533.04 crore, MIDH aims to promote holistic growth of horticulture sector; to enhance horticulture production, improve nutritional security and income support to farm Households.
- National Food Security Mission (NFSM), including National Mission on Oil Seeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP), with a total central share of Rs.6893.38 crore. It aims to increase production of rice, wheat, pulses, coarse cereals and commercial crops, through area expansion and productivity enhancement in a suitable manner in the identified districts of the country, restoring soil fertility and productivity at the individual farm level and enhancing farm level economy. It further aims to augment the availability of vegetable oils and to reduce the import of edible oils.
- National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) with a total central share of Rs.3980.82 crore. NMSA aims at promoting sustainable agriculture practices best suitable to the specific Agro-ecology focusing on integrated farming, appropriate soil health management and synergizing resource conservation technology.
- Submission on Agriculture Extension (SMAE) with a total central share of Rs.2961.26 crore. SMAE aims to strengthen the ongoing extension mechanism of State Governments, local bodies etc., achieving food and nutritional security and socio-economic empowerment of farmers, to institutionalize programme planning and implementation mechanism, to forge effective linkages and synergy amongst various stake-holders, to support HRD interventions, to promote pervasive and innovative use of electronic / print media, inter-personal communication and ICT tools, etc.
- Sub-Mission on Seeds and Planting Material (SMSP) with a total central share of Rs.920.6 crore. SMSP aims to increase production of certified / quality seed, to increase SRR, to upgrade the quality of farm saved seeds, to strengthen the seed multiplication chain, to promote new technologies and methodologies in seed production, processing, testing etc., to strengthen and modernizing infrastructure for seed production, storage, certification and quality etc.
- Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) with a total central share of Rs.3250 crore. SMAM aims to increase the reach of farm mechanization to small and marginal farmers and to the regions where availability of farm power is low, to promote ‘Custom Hiring Centres to offset the adverse economies of scale arising due to small landholding and high cost of individual ownership, to create hubs for hi-tech and high value farm equipment, to create awareness among stakeholders through demonstration and capacity building activities, and to ensure performance testing and certification at designated testing centers located all over the country.
- Sub Mission on Plant Protection and Plan Quarantine (SMPPQ) with a total central share of Rs.1022.67 crore. SMPPQ aims to minimize loss to quality and yield of agricultural crops from the ravages of insect pests, diseases, weeds, nematodes, rodents, etc. and to shield our agricultural bio-security from the incursions and spread of alien species, to facilitate exports of Indian agricultural commodities to global markets, and to promote good agricultural practices, particularly with respect to plant protection strategies and strategies.
- Integrated Scheme on Agriculture Census, Economics and Statistics (ISACES) with a total central share of Rs. 730.58 crore. It aims to undertake the agriculture census, study of the cost of cultivation of principal crops, to undertake research studies on Agro-economic problems of the country, to fund conferences/workshops and seminars involving eminent economists, agricultural scientists, experts and to bring out papers to conduct short term studies, to improve agricultural statistics methodology and to create a hierarchical information system on crop condition and crop production from sowing to harvest.
- Integrated Scheme on Agricultural Cooperation (ISAC) with a total central share of Rs. 1902.636 crore. It aims to provide financial assistance for improving the economic conditions of cooperatives, remove regional imbalances and to speed up - cooperative development in agricultural marketing, processing, storage, computerization and weaker section programmes; to help cotton growers fetch remunerative price for their produce through value addition besides ensuring supply of quality yarn at reasonable rates to the decentralized weavers.
- Integrated Scheme on Agricultural Marketing (ISAM) with a total central share of 3863.93 crore. ISAM aims to develop agricultural marketing infrastructure; to promote innovative and latest technologies and competitive alternatives in agriculture marketing infrastructure; to provide infrastructure facilities for grading, standardization and quality certification of agricultural produce; to establish a nationwide marketing information network; to integrate markets through a common online market platform to facilitate pan-India trade in agricultural commodities, etc.
- National e-Governance Plan (NeGP-A) with a total central share of 211.06 crore aims to bring farmer centricity & service orientation to the programmes; to enhance reach & impact of extension services; to improve access of farmers to information &services throughout crop-cycle; to build upon, enhance & integrate the existing ICT initiatives of Centre and States; and to enhance efficiency & effectiveness of programs through making available timely and relevant information to the farmers for increasing their agriculture productivity.
The Schemes/Missions focus on creating/strengthening of infrastructure of production, reducing production cost and marketing of agriculture and allied produce. These schemes / missions have been under implementation for varying duration during past few years.
All these schemes/missions were appraised and approved independently as separate scheme/mission. In 2017-18, it has been decided to club all these schemes / missions under one umbrella scheme 'Green Revolution - Krishonnati Yojana'.
12-Sep-2017: Cabinet approves implementation of the scheme “Dairy Processing & Infrastructure Development Fund”
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved a Dairy Processing & Infrastructure Development Fund” (DIDF) with an outlay of Rs 10,881 crore during the period from 2017-18 to 2028-29.
Consequent to the Union Budget 2017-18 announcement, Dairy Processing & Infrastructure Development Fund will be set up as a corpus of Rs 8004 crore with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), the Expenditure Finance Committee has given approval for; Initiation and setting up of Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF) at a total scheme outlay of Rs 10881 crore. Out of Rs 10881 crore of financial outlay for project components of DIDF, Rs 8004 crore shall be loan from NABARD to National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and National Dairy Development Cooperation (NCDC), Rs 2001 crore shall be end borrowers contribution, Rs 12 crore would be NDDB/NCDC‘s share and Rs 864 crore shall be contributed by DADF towards interest subvention. NABARD shall disburse Rs 2004 Cr, Rs 3006 Cr and Rs 2994 Cr during the year 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 respectively.
Allocation of Rs 864 Crore for meeting interest subvention will be released to NABARD over a period of 12 years covering the entire loan repayment period from 2017-18 to 2028-29.
The major activities of DIDF:
The project will focus on building an efficient milk procurement system by setting up of chilling infrastructure & installation of electronic milk adulteration testing equipment, creation/modernization/expansion of processing infrastructure and manufacturing faculties for Value Added Products for the Milk Unions/ Milk Producer Companies.
Management of DIDF:
The project will be implemented by National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and National Dairy Development Cooperation (NCDC) directly through the End Borrowers such as Milk Unions, State Dairy Federations, Multi-state Milk Cooperatives, Milk Producer Companies and NDDB subsidiaries meeting the eligibility criteria under the project. An Implementation and Monitoring Cell (IMC) located at NDDB, Anand, will manage the implementation and monitoring of day-to-day project activities.
The end borrowers will get the loan @ 6.5% per annum. The period of repayment will be 10 years with initial two years moratorium.
The respective State Government will be the guarantor of loan repayment. Also for the project sanctioned if the end user is not able to contribute its share; State Government will contribute the same.
Rs 8004 crore shall be loan from NABARD to NDDB/NCDC, Rs 2001 crore shall be end borrowers contribution, Rs 12 crore would be jointly contributed by NDDB/NCDC and Rs 864 crore shall be contributed by DADF towards interest subvention.
Benefits from DIDF: With this investment, 95,00,000 farmers in about 50,000 villages would be benefitted. Additional Milk processing capacity of 126 lakh litre per day, milk drying capacity of 210 MT per day, milk chilling capacity of 140 lakh litre per day, installation of 28000 Bulk Milk Coolers (BMCs) along with electronic milk adulteration testing equipment and value added products manufacturing capacity of 59.78 lakh litre per day of milk equivalent shall be created.
Initially 39 MUs the Department will start the project with 39 profit making milk unions of 12 States, other Milk Cooperatives which become eligible on the basis of their net worth and profit levels, in subsequent years, to apply for loan under DIDF.
Employment Generation Potential: The implementation of DIDF scheme will generate direct and indirect employment opportunities for skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled manpower. Direct employment opportunities for about 40,000 people will be created under the scheme through project activities like expansion & modernisation of existing milk processing facilities, setting up of new processing plants, establishment of manufacturing facilities for value added products and setting up of Bulk Milk Coolers (BMCs) at village level.
About 2 lakh indirect employment opportunities will be created on account of expansion of milk and milk product marketing operations from existing Tier I, II & III to Tier IV, V & VI cities/towns etc. This will lead to deployment of more marketing staff by Milk Cooperatives, appointment of distributors and opening of additional milk booths/retail outlets in urban/rural locations.
With the increase in milk procurement operations of the Milk Cooperatives, there would be generation of additional manpower employment for supervision of increased milk procurement operations, transportation of milk from villages to processing units, and increased input delivery services like Artificial Insemination (AI) services, Veterinary Services, etc.
2-Sep-2017: Foundation stone laid for ‘Saurashtra Narmada Avataran Irrigation Yojana’ (SAUNI) Phase-II Link-4
The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind recently laid the foundation stone of ‘Saurashtra Narmada Avataran Irrigation Yojana’ (SAUNI) Phase-II Link-4 in Rajkot, Gujarat.
SAUNI stands for Saurashtra Narmada Avtaran Irrigation, a project launched in September 2012. SAUNI envisages filling 115 major dams of the arid Saurashtra region by diverting floodwaters overflowing from the Sardar Sarovar Dam across the Narmada in south Gujarat. It involves laying a 1,125-km network of pipelines at a cost of Rs 12,166 crore to carry Narmada water to these dams, and irrigate 4.13 lakh hectares (ha) land. Parts of Saurashtra are prone to drought, and irrigation water is also a politically sensitive issue in this region.
Unlike traditional irrigation projects, SAUNI is technically a ‘linking’ project, where the water will be filled in irrigation dams that are already equipped with canal network. This network of canals will then help channel water into farms. Also, SAUNI project involves making pipe canals instead of the conventional open canals. The pipelines in the SAUNI project are underground, which means that no land needs to be acquired.
29-Jun-2017: PM inaugurates filling of Aji Dam under SAUNI Yojana
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, inaugurated the filling of Aji Dam near Rajkot under SAUNI Yojana.
Addressing a public meeting on the occasion, he said that Gujarat has come a long way from the days of the past, when it faced tremendous water shortage. He said that the last two decades have seen several positive changes in Gujarat's development journey.
The more people have access to water, the more doors of progress will open. The Government's priority is to give water as early as possible. It is also a responsibility to be careful and conserve as much water as possible. He called for embracing the latest technology in the sphere of water conservation.
17-Apr-2017: PM launches projects related to SAUNI Yojana
The Prime Minister dedicated to the nation, Phase-1 (Link 2) of the SAUNI (Saurashtra Narmada Avtaran Irrigation) Yojana, at Botad. He also laid the Foundation Stone of Phase 2 (Link 2) of the SAUNI Yojana.
Earlier, he welcomed Narmada water into the Krishna Sagar Lake by pressing a button and offering flower petals. He described water as a holy offering from nature. He said water is reaching Saurashtra with the blessings of the River Narmada. He said this is the result of a lot of effort, and would benefit the farmers.
He complimented the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan for the work done by him on river water conservation, and the Narmada. He called for the extensive use of drip irrigation, and said the Union Government is working on ways to help double incomes in the agriculture sector.