Even today more than half of India's population lives in rural areas and a large portion of them depend on agriculture for their livelihood. If the income of citizens living in rural areas starts to increase, India's economic growth rate can increase by more than ten percent per year. Keeping this in mind, the Narendra Modi government is constantly trying to double the income of farmers.
Prime Minister Modi has taken several policy-based steps to increase crop productivity, increase livestock productivity, reduce production costs of agricultural activities, increase crop intensity, promote high-value agriculture and provide fair prices to farmers for their produce. Many decisions were taken for the welfare of agriculture and farmers, the positive results of which are now visible. This has improved the standard of living of the farmers, the spending power of the farmers has increased and now the confidence of the farmers in the country has also increased.
Narendra Modi government is spending around Rs 6.5 lakh crore every year for agriculture sector and farmers welfare. In the last ten years, more than 17 lakh crores have been deposited in the accounts of farmers by purchasing their agricultural produce at minimum base price. The government spent Rs 10 lakh crore on fertilizer subsidy last year. Under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, approximately Rs three lakh crore has been directly transferred to farmers' accounts. You can guess how big this amount is from the fact that the total agriculture budget (financial provision) for the five years prior to 2014 was less than Rs 90 thousand crores. This means that the Narendra Modi government has spent three times the amount spent on the entire country's agriculture system at that time only on the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi.
In the last ten years, there has been an unprecedented increase in the budget for the agriculture sector by the central government. The budget for agriculture in 2013-14 was around Rs 25 thousand crore, it has increased to around Rs 1.25 lakh crore in 2023-24. The government has ensured the supply of fertilizers at cheaper rates compared to other countries. Today, farmers are getting a bag of urea for Rs 270, which is much lower than in Bangladesh (Rs 720), Pakistan (Rs 800), China (Rs 2100) and the US (Rs 3000). Also more than 40 percent subsidy is being given on each bag of DAP. Crores of farmers have also received claims under the crop insurance scheme, which has made their lives more bearable. The government has focused a lot on FPOs, which will not only make it easier for small and marginal farmers to get market for their produce but also to buy fertilizers, seeds, medicines and farm implements etc. Services will be available at cheaper rates and get rid of the middlemen's net. This is the guarantee of Modi, who has taken the initiative to empower farmers and resolved to make them self-reliant instead of dependent.
The Modi government has fixed MSP of at least 50 percent higher for all 22 crops. MSP has increased by a record four times during the Modi government. Sugarcane farmers got good FRP. Organic farming has received an unprecedented boost during the Modi government. Traditional Agriculture Development Scheme and Soil Health Card were launched. The Narendra Modi government has spent billions of rupees promoting organic farming and maintaining soil fertility by changing cropping systems. A total of 1971 crop varieties resilient to climate challenges have been developed and introduced since 2014 to provide quality seeds for cultivation. A total of 369 high yielding varieties of 14 pulse crops were introduced in India since 2014. The Beej Gram program has helped crores of farmers in the country not only with seeds, but also with seed production and real profit from agriculture.
Modi government launched Kisan Credit Card to provide loans to farmers. Institutional loans of farmers have increased three times during the tenure of Modi government. There has also been a significant increase in the capacity of cold storage facilities in the country. Kisan Rail and Krishi Udan schemes were designed to improve market access to reduce post-harvest losses. The world's largest grain storage scheme was approved in the cooperative sector. The number of startups in the agriculture sector, which was almost negligible 10 years ago, has now grown to more than 3,000 thanks to the Modi government's policies. But micro-irrigation was implemented under drop more crop and water was ensured to reach every field. Thanks to the tireless efforts of the Modi government, the online market platform e-NAM has connected 1389 mandis, 1.8 crore farmers and 3510 FPOs (Farmer Producer Organizations) in the country.
It is Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose tireless efforts have made the whole grain, Mr. Anna, accepted worldwide. Recognizing the importance of the coarse grain, the United Nations declared 2023 as the International Year of Millet. Today, the country has become self-sufficient in food grains due to the hard work of our agricultural scientists, policy makers and farmers. Under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Food Yojana, the availability of free food grains has become a major support for the needy people since the time of Corona.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly said that the vision of a developed India is incomplete without the development of GYAN. This means that the development of the country is not possible without the welfare and empowerment of the poor, youth, farmers and women. So the welfare of poor, youth, farmers and women power is at the center of every scheme of Modi government. Now woman power is also being associated with agricultural work. Self-help groups have played an important role in agricultural development. The Modi government has now set a target of creating three crore lakhpati didis. The government is making them drone didis. While interacting with women farmers, one realizes how they are becoming the leaders of the country in agricultural development. Pension was started for farmers for the first time in the country, which no one could have imagined.
Congress today is saying that if we come to power, we will enact MSP (minimum support price) guarantee law for all crops, but this is the same party which kept the Swaminathan Commission's recommendations to give MSP to farmers hidden under the files. They should have implemented it first in the Congress-ruled state, but the work of the Congress is only to mislead the people.
During the UPA government of Congress, around Rs 53 thousand crores were waived off to the farmers only once, while the Modi government has released around Rs three lakh crores to farmers' accounts in 16 installments so far under Kisan Samman Nidhi alone. Congress and India Aghadi can do nothing but politics. Many times more work has been done for the farmers in the last ten years during the Narendra Modi government than what was not done in the 70 years of independence. Agricultural development and farmer welfare will surely gain momentum in Modi government 3.0.