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Government Of India Scheme – Ministry Of Agriculture And Farmers Welfare – Notes For W.B.C.S. Examination.
ভারত সরকার প্রকল্প – কৃষি ও কৃষক কল্যাণ মন্ত্রক – WBCS পরীক্ষা।
1. National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP)
• The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has recently launched
Rs 1100 crore ambitious National Agricultural Higher Education Project
(NAHEP).Continue Reading Government Of India Scheme – Ministry Of Agriculture And Farmers Welfare – Notes For W.B.C.S. Examination.
• Key highlights:
o Aim: To attract talent and strengthen higher agricultural education in
the country.
o Funded by the World Bank and the Indian Government on a 50:50 basis.
o The objective of the NAHEP for India is to support participating
agricultural universities and ICAR in providing more relevant and higher
quality education to Agricultural University students.
o In addition, a four-year degree in Agriculture, Horticulture, Fisheries and
Forestry has been declared a professional degree.
2. Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana
• Parliament’s committee on estimates has in its latest report called for reformulation of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), seeking
transparency in its working and asking for more financial allocations to attract
increasing participation from farmers.
• The committee has observed that there are fundamental flaws in the design of the scheme that renders it rather ineffective.
• Background:
o Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), launched in 2016, has run
into rough weather. With both the area covered and the number of
enrolled farmers declining, the country’s premium crop insurance
scheme is certainly in need of an overhaul.
• About PMFBY:
o In April, 2016, the government of India had launched Pradhan Mantri
Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) after rolling back the earlier insurance
schemes viz. National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS), Weatherbased Crop Insurance scheme and Modified National Agricultural
Insurance Scheme (MNAIS).
o Premium: It envisages a uniform premium of only 2% to be paid by
farmers for Kharif crops, and 1.5% for Rabi crops. The premium for
annual commercial and horticultural crops will be 5%.
o The difference between premium and the rate of insurance charges
payable by farmers is provided as subsidy and shared equally by the
Centre and State.
o The scheme is mandatory for farmers who have taken institutional
loans from banks. It’s optional for farmers who have not taken
institutional credit.
• Objectives:
o Providing financial support to farmers suffering crop loss/damage
arising out of unforeseen events.
o Stabilizing the income of farmers to ensure their continuance in farming.
o NOTES Encouraging farmers to adopt innovative and modern agricultural
practices.
o Ensuring flow of credit to the agriculture sector.
• Gram Sabhas across the country have been asked to inform the farmers about the enrolment and benefits of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojan (PMFBY) at the beginning of the Rabi Season.
• Union Government has decided to cover damages to crops in wild animal
attacks under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna in select districts on an
experimental basis.
o In this regard, Government has amended provisions of crop insurance
scheme in consultation with various stakeholders. The amended
provisions of the scheme have been implemented from October 2018.
o As per the new provisions:
▪ Certain horticultural crops have been brought under ambit of
PMFBY on experimental basis.
▪ Damages due to individual fields due to incidents of localised
disasters like water logging, land slide, cloud bursts, hailstorms
and fire too are brought under scheme.
▪ Henceforth, insurances firms will also have to spend 0.5% of
their earnings from annual premium to advertise provisions of
the scheme.
▪ Fines in cases of delay in clearing insurance claims for crop
damages have been proposed.
▪ In case firm delays insurance clearances beyond two months, it
will have to pay an annual interest of 12%.
▪ Similarly, State government too will have to pay interest of 12%
in case of delay in release of state’s share of subsidy in premium
to insurance firms.
3. Online Portal “ENSURE”
• Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare launched a portal ENSURE –
National Livestock Mission-EDEG developed by NABARD and operated under
the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries.
• Entrepreneurship Development and Employment Generation (EDEG):
o Under the Mission’s component EDEG, subsidy payment for activities
related to poultry, small ruminants, pigs etc., through Direct Benefit
Transfer (DBT) goes directly to the beneficiary’s account.
o To make it better, simpler and transparent, the NABARD has developed
an online portal “ENSURE” which makes the information related to
beneficiary and processing of application readily available.
• Benefits:
o The flow of information/funds will be quicker and more accountable.
o The burden of extra interest due to delay in the disbursal of the subsidy
would now be reduced.
o Accessing the portal will be on real-time basis and list of beneficiaries
can be easily prepared.
4. Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA)
• The Union Cabinet approved a new Umbrella Scheme
“Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan’ (PM-AASHA). The Scheme is aimed at ensuring remunerative prices to the farmers for their produce as announced in the Union Budget for 2018.
• The umbrella scheme ‘PM-AASHA’ comprises three sub-schemes:
o Price Support Scheme (PSS).
o Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS).
o Pilot of Private Procurement & Stockist Scheme (PPPS).
• Price Support Scheme (PSS):
o Under the scheme, the physical procurement of pulses, oilseeds and
Copra will be done by Central Nodal Agencies with the proactive role of
the state governments.
o Further, in addition to NAFED, the Food Cooperation of India (FCI) will
take up PSS operations in states and districts.
o The procurement expenditure and losses due to procurement will be
borne by the Union Government as per norms.
• Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS):
o Under the scheme, it is proposed to cover all oilseeds for which
minimum support price (MSP) is notified.
o In this, direct payment of the difference between the MSP and the
selling/modal price will be made to pre-registered farmers selling his
produce in the notified market yard through a transparent auction
process.
o All payments will be done directly into the registered bank account of
the farmer.
o This scheme does not involve any physical procurement of crops as
farmers are paid the difference between the MSP price and sale or
modal price on disposal in the notified market.
• Pilot of Private Procurement & Stockist Scheme (PPPS):
o For oilseeds, the states will have the option to roll out Private
Procurement Stockist Scheme (PPSS) on pilot basis in selected districts
and Agricultural Produce Market Committee’s (APMC) of district
involving the participation of private stockiest.
o The pilot district and selected APMC(s) will cover one or more crop of
oilseeds for which MSP is notified.
o Since this is similar to the PSS scheme, as it involves physical
procurement of the notified commodity, the scheme shall substitute
PSS/PDPS in the pilot districts.
o The selected private agency shall procure the commodity at MSP in the
notified markets during the notified period from the registered farmers
in accordance with the PPSS Guidelines, whenever the prices in the
market fall below the notified MSP and whenever authorised by the
state or UT government to enter the market. The maximum service
charges up to 15% of the notified MSP will be payable.
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