National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF)
28-Mar-2023: National Mission on Natural Farming
To motivate farmers to adopt chemical free farming and enhance the reach of natural farming, the Government has formulated National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) as a separate and independent scheme from 2023-24 by up scaling the Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Paddati (BPKP). The success of NMNF will require behavioral change in farmers to shift from chemical based inputs to cow based locally produced inputs and thus requires continuous creation of awareness, training, handholding and capacity building of farmers in the initial years. The provision of Rs 459.00 crores for 2023-24 has been proposed after careful consideration and the requirement of increase of budget is not anticipated at this stage.
The budget for fertilizer subsidy for 2023-24 has been kept at Rs 1,75,099 crore.
Natural Farming is a way of chemical free farming based on desi cow and locally available resources, with no chemical fertilizers and pesticides and promotes traditional indigenous practices which give freedom to farmers from externally purchased inputs and is largely based on on-farm biomass recycling with major stress on biomass mulching, use of on-farm desi cow dung-urine formulation; managing pests through diversity, on-farm botanical concoctions and exclusion of all synthetic chemical inputs directly or indirectly and emphasis is given on improving natural nutrient cycling and increase in organic matter in the soil, which can help with climate change resilience and carbon sequestration in soils.
“National Standard of Organic Production (NSOP) has defined organic agriculture as “a system of farm design and management to create an ecosystem which can achieve sustainable productivity without use of artificial off farm input such as chemical fertilizer and pesticides. Organic farming is considered to be climate friendly farming practices promoting low external input usage, recycling, reuse and reduced use of synthetics in farming. Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) under its All India Network Programme on Organic Farming has developed package of practices for organic production in cropping and farming systems mode.
Climate smart agriculture is a broader concept which includes all environments friendly agricultural approaches like integrated farming systems, conservation agriculture, natural farming, organic farming, precision agriculture, regenerative agriculture, reclamation of degraded soils and reduced food loss and waste to achieve sustainable agriculture. Climate smart agriculture is an integrated approach to managing landscapes-cropland, livestock, forests and fisheries-that address the interlinked challenges of food security and climate change. It aims to tackle three main objectives: sustainably increasing agricultural productivity and incomes, adapting and building resilience to climate change and reducing greenhouses gas emissions wherever possible and supports FAO strategic framework 2022-2031.
To make global consensus on a broader concept, Government has opted climate smart agriculture rather than natural and organic farming in its priorities for G20 agriculture working group.
Micro and Small Enterprises-Cluster Development Programme (MSE-CDP)
27-Mar-2023: Micro and Small Enterprises – Cluster Development Programme (MSE-CDP) being implemented to enhance productivity and competitiveness
Ministry of MSME is implementing Micro and Small Enterprises – Cluster Development Programme (MSE-CDP) across the country including Maharashtra. The objective of the scheme is to enhance the productivity and competitiveness of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) for their holistic development adopting cluster approach through financial assistance as Government of India (GoI) grant for establishment of Common Facility Centers (CFCs) in the existing clusters and for establishment of new / up-gradation of existing Industrial Areas / Estates / Flatted Factory Complexes.
Ministry of MSME also implements the Scheme of Funds for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI) for making Traditional Industries more productive and competitive by organizing the Traditional Industries and artisans into clusters to provide support for their long-term sustainability and economies of scale.
MSE-CDP is a demand driven Central Sector Scheme, wherein, State Government sends proposals for establishment of Common Facility Centers (CFCs) and establishment /up-gradation of Infrastructure Development (ID) projects as per requirements in clusters.
SFURTI is also a demand driven Central Sector Scheme which aims to cover traditional enterprises from diverse geographies of the country, with preference to uncovered areas, new districts, including niche traditional industries. Proposals are encouraged from all corners of the country through the network of Nodal agencies including NER, Hilly areas, tribal areas, aspirational districts, etc. The projects will be appraised based on the merit, strategies, project viability, impact on artisans, etc. as per the scheme guidelines
30 projects for setting up of Common Facility Center (CFC) under MSE-CDP have been approved in Maharashtra, out of which, 14 projects are completed.
Whereas, under SFURTI 27 clusters have been approved in Maharashtra, out of which, 16 clusters are functional.
The several steps in processing the application have been simplified to expedite the approval as well as functioning of projects under MSE-CDP as per the new guidelines.
Under SFURTI, timeline for implementation of SFURTI clusters were 3 years which has been reduced to 12-18 months w.e.f. March, 2020.
Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU GKY)
27-Mar-2023: Big boost to rural employment as more than 31,000 jobs on the way under DDU-GKY
In a big boost to rural employment, the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) is signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with 19 Captive Employers and provide them the target to train and provide gainful employment to 31,067 rural poor youths under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) with minimum salary of 10000/per month for the minimum period of 6 months.
Union Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Shri Giriraj Singh will be the Chief Guest at the MoU signing ceremony in New Delhi tomorrow. On the occasion, he will also distribute appointment letters to few candidates who had got similar training under the DDU-GKY and placed with captive employers.
Based on the direction of Shri Giriraj Singh, MoRD launched the Captive employment Guidelines under DDUGKY to ensure that the candidates are trained as per the industry requirement and employed. The Captive Employment model allows the employer to select the rural youths, skill & deploy them in one of its own establishment/sister-concern/subsidiaries.
The RTD (Recruit, Train & Deploy) model has been developed to address the needs of the Industry on one hand and ensuring sustainable placement for rural youth on the another hand. The model will be a win-win situation for Industry, Government & Rural Poor Youth. Industry will be able to provide more hands-on training at the job site itself as per its requirement while Government will ensure longer placements (Minimum six months) for rural poor youth candidates.
The Captive Employment Guidelines will increase the direct involvement of the industry due to the benefits provided to the industries for encouraging them to participate in the DDU-GKY program thereby ensuring the large quantity employment for rural youths. Few of the Benefits provided to the Captive Employers are: Top Most Priority in target allocation, Waiver of Performance Bank Guarantee, Waiver of Quality Appraisal Process and Fees, Due Diligence of Training Centre and few other mandates of DDU-GKY to ease the operations for industries, MoU with MoRD for the period of 3 Years, Industry to also get Trained Manpower on Work which may reduce wear and tear, better performance, training cost from Govt.
However, in turn Captive Employers are required to offer Captive (In-house) placement to all the trained candidates and provide captive employment to minimum 70% of trained candidates for the period of 6 months with Minimum Salary of Rs. 10,000 for training courses less than 6 months & Rs. 12,000 for training courses more than 6 months.
The basic objective of DDU-GKY is to provide the gainful placement in sustainable manner to rural youth after skilling hence the concept of captive employment was envisaged and launched on the occasion of Antyodaya Divas in the year 2020.