Lok Sabha Question No. 3618 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-08-08
Subject: Industry Status to Agriculture
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: REKHA ARUN VERMA, BHAVANA GAWALI (PATIL)

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, COOPERATION AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK  SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3618

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE  8 TH  AUGUST, 2017

## INDUSTRY STATUS TO AGRICULTURE

3618.  SHRIMATI REKHA VERMA: SHRIMATI BHAVANA PUNDALIKRAO GAWALI PATIL:

Will  the  Minister  of  AGRICULTURE  AND  FARMERS  WELFARE      ‡ãðŠãäÓã एवं  कसान कयाण ½ãâ¨ããè be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  there  has  been  demands  from  various  sections  for  granting  industry status to agriculture and separate budget for agriculture ;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the response of the Government thereto ;
- (c) whether any steps have been taken by the Government to attract investment in agriculture sector and to increase the agriculture growth rate; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof along with the invested/released amount for the purpose during the said period and the achievements made therein ?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF  STATE IN THE  MINISTRY OF  AGRICULTURE AND  FARMERS  WELFARE

‡ãðŠãäÓã एवं  कसान  कयाण ½ãâ¨ããÊã¾ã  ½ãñâ  Àã·¾ã  ½ãâ¨ããè (  SHRI PARSHOTTAM RUPALA)

- (a) & (b): Government  has  been  receiving  suggestions  from  various  quarters  to accord status of industry to agriculture and also for separate budget for Agriculture.

Government  seeks  to  bestow  on  the  agriculture  sector  as  many  benefits  as available to those in the manufacturing sector, such as, easy availability of credit and other inputs and infrastructure facilities for development of agriculture sector including marketing  and  post  harvest  management.  Further,  Government  has  launched  a comprehensive  crop  insurance  scheme  called  'Pradhan  Mantri  Fasal  Bima  Yojana' (PMFBY) which covers the risks- and uncertainties that the farm sector is exposed to.

Agriculture  is  intrinsically  linked  to  various  other  sectors  like  road,  power, irrigation, land, finance, fertilizers etc., which are covered under the General Budget. It is,  therefore,  necessary  to  continue  to  maintain  such  linkage  and  hence,  a  separate budget for agriculture would not be feasible.

(c) & (d): The  Government  has  constituted  and  operationalised  the  Long  Term Irrigation  Fund  (LTIF)  to  be  instituted  in  NABARD  as  part  of  Pradhan  Mantri  Krishi Sinchayi Yojana (PMKSY). The Fund, with an initial corpus of about Rs 20,000 crore, was announced  in the  Union  Budget  2016-17  which  has  been hiked by another Rs.  20,000  crore  during  2017-18,  taking  the  total  fund  size  to  Rs  40,000  crore.  The Government has also announced a dedicated micro irrigation fund which will be set up in NABARD to achieve the goal, 'per drop more crop', with an initial corpus of Rs 5,000 crore.

The Crops Insurance Scheme which was started in Kharif 2016 viz. the Prime Minister Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) will insulate our farmers from vagaries of weather thus  reducing  hardships  faced  by  our  famers  on  this  account.  The  coverage  of  this scheme is proposed to  be  increased  to  40%  cropped  area    in  2017-18  and  50%  in 2018-19. PMFBY has  addressed  all  the  shortcomings  in  the  earlier  schemes  and  is available to the farmers at very low rates of premium. In addition to this Government is implementing e-NAM for remunerative prices of agricultural produce.

The  Government  has  also  increased  the  flow  of  institutional  agriculture  credit from Rs. 9,00,000 crore to Rs.10,00,000 crore during 2017-18.

As  per  existing  Foreign  Director  Investment  Policy,  FDI  up  to  100  percent  is permitted  under  automatic  route  in  specified  activities  of  the  agriculture  and  allied sectors  mentioned  below.  Further,  100  percent  FDI  is  also  allowed  under  automatic route in the 'Plantation sector' namely tea, coffee, rubber, cardamom, palm oil tree and olive oil tree.

- a)    Floriculture, Horticulture, Apiculture and Cultivation of Vegetables & Mushrooms under controlled conditions;
- b)     Development and Production   of seeds and planting  material;
- c)      Animal Husbandry (including  breeding of dogs), Pisciculture, Aquaculture; and
- d)     Services related to agro and allied sectors.

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