Lok Sabha Question No. 2545 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-09
Subject: Welfare Schemes for Farmers
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Arvind Kumar Sharma, Ajay (Teni) Misra

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, COOPERATION AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK  SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2545 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 9 TH  JULY, 2019

## WELFARE SCHEMES FOR FARMERS

2545.  SHRI ARVIND KUMAR SHARMA: SHRI AJAY MISRA TENI:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the welfare schemes implemented by the Government for farmers in the country to double their income;
- (b) the number of farmers benefited from the above said schemes in various States of the country including Rohtak region of Haryana;
- (c) the  number  of  farmers  deprived  of  the  benefits  of  the  above  schemes  and  the corrective steps likely to be taken by the Government in this regard, the details thereof; and
- (d) whether  the  Government  has  formulated  any  special  plan  to  speed  up  welfare schemes for farmers and double their income, if so, the extent to which the farmers are likely to benefit from the said scheme and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

(a) to (d): Agriculture being a State subject, the State Governments undertake development of perspective plans and ensure effective implementation of the programmes/ schemes. Government of India supplements the  efforts of  the  State Governments  through various Schemes/ Programmes.

The  strategy  of  the  Government  is  to  focus  on  farmers'  welfare  by  making  farming viable.  The  Government  has  been  reorienting  the  agriculture  sector  by  focusing  on  an income-centric  approach as  against the  earlier  production  centric  policy.    This  focuses  on achieving  high  productivity,  reduced  cost  of  cultivation  and  remunerative  price  on  the produce, with a view to earning higher profits for the farmers. A list of various interventions taken by the Government is placed at Annexure -I.

The Pradhan Mantri KIsan SAmman Nidhi aims to provide income support to all farmer families irrespective of the size of their land holdings across the country, by way of payment of Rs.6000/- per year, subject to certain exclusions.  The amount is being released in three 4monthly installments of Rs.2000/- each over the year, to be credited into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries held in destination banks through Direct Benefit Transfer mode.

So  far,  1 st installment  to  3,53,73,399  beneficiaries  and  2 nd installment  to  3,10,77,401 beneficiaries have been released.  State-wise data of fund released is at Annexure-II.

With  respect  to  State  of  Haryana,  1 st installment  has  been  released  to  9,82,987 beneficiaries  and  the  2 nd installment  has  been released  to  9,35,929  beneficiaries including beneficiaries from Rohtak District of Haryana.

Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2545 due for 09.07.2019. Statement in respect of the Question regarding 'Welfare Schemes for Farmers'

Most  of  the  schemes  of  Department  of  Agriculture,  Cooperation  and  Farmers  Welfare focus on directly benefitting farmers through various interventions and schemes such as:-

- (i) Implementation of flagship scheme of distribution of Soil Health Cards to farmers so that the use of fertilizers can be optimized.
- (ii) 'Per drop more crop' initiative under which drip/sprinkler irrigation is being encouraged for optimal utilization of water.
- (iii) 'ParamparagatKrishiVikas Yojana (PKVY)' under which organic farming is being promoted
- (iv)      Initiating market reforms through the State Governments.
- (v)      Encouraging contract farming through the State Governments by promulgating of Model Contract Farming Act.
- (vi) Up-gradation of Gramin Haats to work as centers of aggregation and for direct purchase of agricultural commodities from the farmers.
- (vii)     Launch of e-NAM initiative to provide farmers an electronic online trading platform.
- (viii)    With a view to provide better insurance coverage to crops for risk mitigation, Government has  launched  a  crop  insurance  scheme  namely  Pradhan Mantri  Fasal  Bima  Yojana (PMFBY) from Kharif 2016 season. This scheme provides insurance cover for all stages of the crop cycle including post-harvest risks in specified instances.
- (ix)     Under  'Har  Medh  Par  Ped',  agro  forestry  is  being  promoted.  With  the  amendment  of Indian  Forest  Act,  1927,  Bamboo  has  been  removed  from  the  definition  of  trees.  A restructured  National  Bamboo  Mission  has  been  launched  in  the  year  2018  to  promote bamboo plantation on non forest  government as  well  as  private  land  with  emphasis  on value addition and product development.
- (x) Giving a major boost for the farmers income, the Government has approved the increase in the Minimum Support Price (MSPs) for all Kharif & Rabi crops for 2018-19 season at a level of at least 150 percent of the cost of production.
- (xi) Giving  a  major  boost  to  the  pro-farmer  initiatives,  the  Government  has  approved a  new Umbrella Scheme 'Pradhan Mantri Annadata  Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan (PMAASHA)'.  The Scheme is aimed at ensuring remunerative prices to the farmers for their produce as announced in the Union Budget for 2018. This is an unprecedented step taken by  Govt.  of  India  to  protect  the  farmers'  income  which  is  expected  to  go  a  long  way towards the welfare of farmers.
- (xii) Bee keeping has been promoted under Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) to  increase  the  productivity  of  crops  through  pollination  and  increase  the  honey production as an additional source of income of farmers.
- (xiii) Rashtriya  Gokul  Mission  to  enhance  milk  production  and  productivity  of  bovines  and  to make milk production more remunerative to the farmers.
- (xiv) National Livestock Mission to increase productivity and genetic improvement of livestock.
- (xv)     Foreseeing  high  potential  in  fisheries  sector,  a  Blue  Revolution  with  multi  dimensional activities  mainly  focusing  on  fisheries  production,  both  inland  and  marine  is  being implemented.
- (xvi)    Extending the reach of institutional credit to more and more farmers is priority area of the Government and to achieve this goal, the Government provides interest subvention of 3% on short-term crop loans up to Rs.3.00 lakh. Presently, loan is available to farmers at an interest rate of 7% per annum, which gets reduced to 4% on prompt repayment.
- (xvii)      Further,  under  Interest  Subvention  Scheme  2018-19,  in  order  to  provide  relief  to  the farmers on occurrence of natural calamities, the interest subvention of 2% shall continue to be available to banks for the first year on the restructured amount. In order to discourage distress  sale  by  farmers  and  to  encourage  them  to  store  their  produce  in  warehouses against negotiable receipts, the benefit of interest subvention will be available to small and marginal  farmers  having  Kisan  Credit  Card  for  a  further  period  of  upto  six  months  post harvest on the same rate as available to crop loan.
- (xviii)  The Government has approved for giving the facility  of  Kisan  Credit  Card (KCC)  to  the farmers practicing animal husbandry and fisheries related   activities and has also decided to extend the Interest Subvention Facilities to such categories of farmers.
- (xix) Government sets annual target for the flow of credit to the agriculture sector, Banks have been consistently surpassing the annual target. The current year's agriculture credit flow target has been set at Rs. 13.50 lakh crore.
- (xx) With a view to provide income support to all farmers' families across the country, to enable them  to  take  care  of  expenses  related  to  agriculture  and  allied  activities  as  well  as domestic needs, the Central Government started a new Central Sector Scheme, namely, the  Pradhan  Mantri  Kisan  SAmman  Nidhi  (PM-KISAN).  The  scheme  aims  to  provide  a payment of Rs. 6000/- per year, in three 4-monthly instalments of Rs. 2000/- to the farmers families, subject to certain exclusions relating to higher income groups.  About 14.5 crore farmers are expected to be covered under the Scheme.
- (xxi)  Further with a view to provide social security net for Small and Marginal Farmers (SMF) as they have minimal or no savings to provide for old age and to support them in the event of consequent  loss  of  livelihood,  the  Government  has  decided  to  implement  another  new Central  Sector  Scheme  for  providing  old  age  pension  to  these  farmers.  Under  this Scheme, a minimum fixed pension of Rs. 3000/- will be provided to the eligible small and marginal farmers, subject to certain exclusion clauses, on attaining the age of 60 years. The scheme aims to cover around 5 crore beneficiaries in the first three years. It would be a  voluntary  and  contributory  pension  scheme,  with  entry  age  of  18  to  40  years.  The Government has approved a budgetary provision of Rs. 10774.50 crore for the scheme till March, 2022.

## Annexure - II

## Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2545 due for 09.07.2019. Statement in respect of the Question regarding 'Welfare Schemes for Farmers'

| States                      | Estimated Number of holdings for transfer of benefit   | First instalment Payment (Number)   | First instalment Payment (Amount) (In Rupees)   |   First instalment Payment (%) | Second instalment Payment (Number)   | Second instalment Payment (Amount) (In Rupees)   |   Second instalment Payment (%) |
|-----------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------|
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 11,633                                                 | 10,004                              | 20,008,000                                      |                          86    |                                      | 0                                                |                            0    |
| Andhra Pradesh              | 8,692,193                                              | 3,443,116                           | 6,886,232,000                                   |                          39.61 | 3,141,105                            | 6,282,210,000                                    |                           36.14 |
| Arunachal Pradesh           | 110,574                                                | 0                                   | 0                                               |                           0    |                                      | 0                                                |                            0    |
| Assam                       | 2,640,981                                              | 1,251,073                           | 2,502,146,000                                   |                          47.37 | 1,044,820                            | 2,089,640,000                                    |                           39.56 |
| Bihar                       | 16,385,845                                             | 826,431                             | 1,652,862,000                                   |                           5.04 | 219,141                              | 438,282,000                                      |                            1.34 |
| Chandigarh                  | 661                                                    | 13                                  | 26,000                                          |                           1.97 |                                      | 0                                                |                            0    |
| Chhattisgarh                | 3,977,327                                              | 282,143                             | 564,286,000                                     |                           7.09 | 111,768                              | 223,536,000                                      |                            2.81 |
| Dadra and Nagar Haveli      | 14,713                                                 | 5,322                               | 10,644,000                                      |                          36.17 |                                      | 0                                                |                            0    |
| Daman and Diu               | 7,983                                                  | 2,423                               | 4,846,000                                       |                          30.35 | 2,106                                | 4,212,000                                        |                           26.38 |
| Delhi                       | 19,050                                                 | 0                                   | 0                                               |                           0    |                                      | 0                                                |                            0    |
| Goa                         | 57,200                                                 | 2,385                               | 4,770,000                                       |                           4.17 | 2,336                                | 4,672,000                                        |                            4.08 |
| Gujarat                     | 5,339,773                                              | 2,841,881                           | 5,683,762,000                                   |                          53.22 | 2,832,614                            | 5,665,228,000                                    |                           53.05 |
| Haryana                     | 1,577,220                                              | 982,987                             | 1,965,974,000                                   |                          62.32 | 935,929                              | 1,871,858,000                                    |                           59.34 |
| Himachal Pradesh            | 979,825                                                | 540,949                             | 1,081,898,000                                   |                          55.21 | 440,003                              | 880,006,000                                      |                           44.91 |
| Jammu and Kashmir           | 1,377,675                                              | 541,029                             | 1,082,058,000                                   |                          39.27 | 462,497                              | 924,994,000                                      |                           33.57 |
| Jharkhand                   | 2,647,736                                              | 544,140                             | 1,088,280,000                                   |                          20.55 | 398,951                              | 797,902,000                                      |                           15.07 |
| Karnataka                   | 8,719,290                                              | 767,098                             | 1,534,196,000                                   |                           8.8  | 303,684                              | 607,368,000                                      |                            3.48 |
| Kerala                      | 7,529,741                                              | 1,141,821                           | 2,283,642,000                                   |                          15.16 | 931,661                              | 1,863,322,000                                    |                           12.37 |
| Lakshdweep                  | 10,094                                                 | 0                                   | 0                                               |                           0    |                                      | 0                                                |                            0    |
| Madhya Pradesh              | 10,365,783                                             | 9,304                               | 18,608,000                                      |                           0.09 |                                      | 0                                                |                            0    |
| Maharashtra                 | 14,486,843                                             | 2,257,581                           | 4,515,162,000                                   |                          15.58 | 1,502,217                            | 3,004,434,000                                    |                           10.37 |
| Manipur                     | 145,087                                                | 7,276                               | 14,552,000                                      |                           5.01 |                                      | 0                                                |                            0    |

| States        | Estimated Number of holdings for transfer of benefit   | First instalment Payment (Number)   | First instalment Payment (Amount) (In Rupees)   |   First instalment Payment (%) | Second instalment Payment (Number)   | Second instalment Payment (Amount) (In Rupees)   |   Second instalment Payment (%) |
|---------------|--------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------|
| Meghalaya     | 233,472                                                | 76                                  | 152,000                                         |                           0.03 |                                      | 0                                                |                            0    |
| Mizoram       | 86,570                                                 | 24,410                              | 48,820,000                                      |                          28.2  | 11,931                               | 23,862,000                                       |                           13.78 |
| Nagaland      | 199,150                                                | 39,685                              | 79,370,000                                      |                          19.93 | 30,459                               | 60,918,000                                       |                           15.29 |
| Odisha        | 4,851,572                                              | 971,749                             | 1,943,498,000                                   |                          20.03 | 929,025                              | 1,858,050,000                                    |                           19.15 |
| Puducherry    | 33,350                                                 | 4,421                               | 8,842,000                                       |                          13.26 |                                      | 0                                                |                            0    |
| Punjab        | 1,080,694                                              | 1,289,315                           | 2,578,630,000                                   |                         119.3  | 1,144,648                            | 2,289,296,000                                    |                          105.92 |
| Rajasthan     | 7,877,428                                              | 1,493,023                           | 2,986,046,000                                   |                          18.95 | 1,323,564                            | 2,647,128,000                                    |                           16.8  |
| Sikkim        | 63,583                                                 |                                     | 0                                               |                           0    |                                      | 0                                                |                            0    |
| Tamilnadu     | 7,581,193                                              | 2,160,094                           | 4,320,188,000                                   |                          28.49 | 2,123,556                            | 4,247,112,000                                    |                           28.01 |
| Telangana     | 6,065,158                                              | 2,216,560                           | 4,433,120,000                                   |                          36.55 | 1,858,221                            | 3,716,442,000                                    |                           30.64 |
| Tripura       | 554,949                                                | 151,095                             | 302,190,000                                     |                          27.23 | 151,064                              | 302,128,000                                      |                           27.22 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 23,379,705                                             | 11,169,349                          | 22,338,698,000                                  |                          47.77 | 10,848,667                           | 21,697,334,000                                   |                           46.4  |
| Uttarakhand   | 838,528                                                | 396,646                             | 793,292,000                                     |                          47.3  | 327,434                              | 654,868,000                                      |                           39.05 |
| West Bengal   | 7,057,420                                              | 0                                   | 0                                               |                           0    | 0                                    | 0                                                |                            0    |
| Total         | 145,000,000                                            | 35,373,399                          | 70,746,798,000                                  |                          24.4  | 31,077,401                           | 62,154,802,000                                   |                           21.43 |

Agri Census data of 2015-16 is based on the land holding and does not cover the details of joint land holders.

- *******