Union agriculture minister lists benefits transferred to farmers in Rajasthan

New Delhi: Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, and Rural Development, Shivraj Singh Chouhan transferred financial assistance under various schemes into the bank accounts of farmers during a massive Farmers’ Conference held at Merta City in Nagaur district of Rajasthan.

On the occasion, Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma, Rajasthan Agriculture Minister Dr. Kirodi Lal Meena, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Avinash, Minister of State for Revenue Vijay Singh, Chairman of the Farmers’ Commission C. R. Chaudhary, Member of Parliament Mahima Kumari, and MLA Laxman Ram Ji Kalaru were also present.

Addressing the conference, the Union Agriculture Minister said that Rajasthan has created a new history of development over the past two years. He said that an amount of Rs 2,089 crore has been released today for the construction of 12,600 roads in the state. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a new India is emerging. He said that the nation is moving rapidly towards building a glorious, prosperous, wealthy, strong, developed and self-reliant India (Atmanirbhar Bharat).

Chouhan said that the agricultural sector in Rajasthan is witnessing rapid development. High-yielding, climate-resilient new varieties of seeds have been developed at a fast pace in the state. At the same time, significant progress has also been made in reducing the cost of production.

Praising the efforts of the state government, the Union Minister said that under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, the state government has provided an additional amount of Rs 3,000 along with Rs 6,000. Farmers have benefited from this total assistance of Rs 9,000, which has helped reduce the cost of agricultural production.

Shivraj Singh said that over the past two years, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rajasthan has received Rs 29,000 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. He said efforts have also been made to remove shortcomings in the crop insurance scheme. A provision has been made to ensure that if insurance companies delay claim settlements, they will have to pay 12 per cent interest directly into farmers’ bank accounts.

The Union Agriculture Minister also referred to the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and said that under the leadership of the Prime Minister, MSP has been doubled. This year, the central government has approved the procurement of approximately 3.05 lakh metric tonnes of moong worth nearly Rs 2,680 crore from Rajasthan. He said that procurement of 5.54 lakh metric tonnes of groundnut will also be undertaken, and procurement of 2.65 lakh metric tonnes of soybean is currently underway. He assured that whenever required, the central government will ensure fair prices for farmers and will not allow any shortfall in MSP procurement.

Union Minister Chouhan also spoke about the newly enacted ‘Viksit Bharat – G Ram G’ law and said that the opposition is indulging in baseless criticism of it. He said the reality is that this law will transform India’s villages. Under the leadership of the Prime Minister, an excellent scheme has been formulated, giving equal importance to the welfare of workers and the well-being of farmers. He said that under the new law, the number of employment days has been increased from 100 to 125 days.

Chouhan said that a conspiracy is being hatched to intimidate workers and spread confusion. He stated that during the earlier UPA period, more than Rs 40,000 crore allocated for MGNREGA remained unspent, whereas under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expenditure under MGNREGA has reached up to Rs 1.11 lakh crore annually. For the current year, the proposed budget allocation for the scheme is approximately Rs 1,51,282 crore.

The Union Minister said that Gram Panchayats have been given a major role under the new law, which is why the term ‘Viksit Bharat’ has been added to its name. Gram Panchayats will now prepare development plans for their villages. Under this scheme, villages will be developed as poverty-free and employment-oriented. The people of the villages themselves will decide the development roadmap. Over a period of five years, around Rs 7.5 lakh will be spent per village under this scheme.

He said that water conservation works have been given priority under this scheme. An important provision has also been included to ensure that if workers are not paid their wages on time, interest will also have to be paid. Administrative expenditure has been increased from 6 per cent to 9 per cent to ensure timely payment of salaries to employment assistants, panchayat secretaries, technical assistants and other staff. An amount of Rs 13,000 crore will be spent annually under this head. The Union Minister said that the scheme has also been designed keeping in mind labour requirements during harvesting, sowing and peak agricultural seasons.

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan further said that there are plans to introduce two more important Bills in the next session of Parliament, including a Seed Act and a Bill to prevent the use of fake fertilisers and spurious manure. He also said that stringent penalties will be imposed on those who dupe farmers.