Lok Sabha Question No. 251 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-07-20
Subject: Commitment to Double Agricultural Income
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Krishna Pal Singh Yadav

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 251

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 20 TH  JULY, 2021

## Commitment to Double Agricultural Income

## 251. SHRI KRISHNA PAL SINGH YADAV:

Will the Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी be pleased to state:

- (a) the steps taken by the Government to fulfil its commitment to double agricultural income by the year 2022;
- (b) the steps taken by the Government on the basis of the proposed recommendations by the Niti Aayog in this regard;
- (c) the details of other major reforms made in the agriculture sector; and
- (d) the steps taken or being taken by the Government  for improvement in employment  opportunities  to  discourage  increased  dependence  on  the  agriculture sector?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

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

- (a) & (b) :  The Government constituted an Inter-ministerial Committee in April, 2016 to examine issues relating to 'Doubling of Farmers Income' and recommend strategies to achieve the same.   It submitted its final Report to the Government in September, 2018 containing  the  strategy  for  doubling  of  farmers'  income  by  the  year  2022.  After acceptance of the DFI Committee recommendations, the Government has constituted an 'Empowered  Body' to review and monitor the progress. The DFI strategy, as recommended    by  Niti  Aayog,  include    seven  sources  of  income  growth  viz.,  (I) improvement in crop productivity; (II) improvement in livestock productivity; (III) resource use  efficiency  or  savings  in  the  cost  of  production;  (IV)  increase  in  the  cropping

intensity;(V)  diversification  towards  high  value  crops;  (VI)  improvement  in  real  prices received by farmers; and (VII) shift from farm to non-farm occupations.

Agriculture being a State subject, the State Governments undertake implementation of programs/schemes for the development of the sector. Government of India  supplements  the  efforts  of  the  State  Governments  through  various  schemes/ programs.  These  schemes/  programs  of  the  Government  of  India  are  meant  for  the welfare of farmers by increasing production, remunerative returns and income support to farmers. A list of initiatives taken by the Government are at Annexure-I .

(c): The New Farm laws viz, 'The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act,  2020',   'The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement On  Price  Assurance  and  Farm  Services  Act,  2020'  and  'The  Essential  Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020,  are intended to provide an ecosystem where the farmers can enjoy  the  freedom  of  choice  relating  to  sale  of  farmers'  produce  which  facilitates remunerative prices to farmers through competitive alternative channels for selling their produce.

Farm laws provide additional marketing opportunities  outside  the  APMC  market yards such as farm-gates, cold storages, warehouse, silos, etc. to help farmers get better remunerative prices due to additional competition.

'The  Farmers'  Produce  Trade  and  Commerce  (Promotion  and  Facilitation)  Act, 2020' is intended to promote competition and transparency in trade by way of facilitation of trade in trade area for facilitating remunerative prices to farmers.

The  Farming agreement  i.e  'The  Farmers  (Empowerment  and  Protection) Agreement  On  Price  Assurance  and  Farm  Services  Act,  2020'  will  enable  scaling  of investment by industry for production and processing of high value agriculture produces and  give  fillip  to  exports.    The  framework  will  also  mitigate  the  risks  for  the  farmers, enhance their income and will put in place an effective and conducive policy regime for agreements.

'The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020', encourages investment in supply  chain  and  marketing  infrastructure  including  that  in  storage  facilities  to  create rural employment.

Further,  the  new  Pesticide  Management Bill,  2020  was  introduced  in  the  Rajya

Sabha for expanding the holistic administration and management of pesticides. (d) : The steps taken by the Government for improvement in employment opportunities is at Annexure II.

## List of various interventions and schemes launched for the benefit of farmers.

- (i)        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 installments of Rs. 2000/- to the farmers families, subject to certain exclusions relating to higher income groups.
- (ii)   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 i.e. Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana (PMKMY) 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.
- (iii)      With  a  view  to  provide  better  insurance  coverage  to  crops  for  risk  mitigation,  a  crop insurance scheme namely Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) was launched from  Kharif  2016  season.  This  scheme  provides  insurance  cover  for  all  stages  of  the crop cycle including post-harvest risks in specified  instances,  with  low  premium contribution by farmers.
- (iv)   Giving  a  major  boost  for  the  farmer's  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.
- (v) Implementation of flagship scheme of distribution of Soil Health Cards to farmers so that the use of fertilizers can be rationalized.
- (vi)   'Per drop more crop' initiative under which drip/sprinkler irrigation is being encouraged for optimal utilization of water, reducing cost of inputs and increasing productivity.
- (vii)   'Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY)' for promoting organic farming.
- (viii)  Launch  of  National  Agriculture  Market  (e-NAM)  initiative  to  provide  farmers  with transparent and competitive online trading platform.
- (ix)   Under 'HarMedh Par Ped', agro forestry is being promoted for additional income.  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 and emphasis on value addition, product development and  markets.
- (x)   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.
- (xi)   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.
- (xii)  To ensure flow of adequate credit, Government sets annual target for the flow of credit to the agriculture sector, Banks have been consistently surpassing the annual target.
- (xiii)   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 2% on short-term crop loans up to Rs.3.00 lakh. Presently, loan is available to farmers at an interest rate of 4% per annum on prompt repayment.
- (xiv)   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.
- (xv)  The  Government  has  extended  the  facility  of  Kisan  Credit  Card  (KCC)  to  the  farmers practicing animal husbandry and fisheries related activities. All processing fee, inspection, ledger folio charges and all other services charges have been waived off for fresh renewal of KCC. Collateral fee loan limit for short term agri-credit has been raised from Rs.1.00 lakh to Rs.1.60 lakh.
- (xvi) Several market reforms have been rolled out . These include
- a. Model APLMC (Promotion & Facilitation) Act, 2017
- b. Agri-Export Policy, that targets to double agri-exports by 2022
- c. The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion & Facilitation) Act., 2020
- d. The  Farmers  (Empowerment  &  Protection)  Agreement  on  Price  Assurance and Farm Services Act.,  2020
- e. Amendments to Essential  Commodities  Act,  1955,  that  deregulates  various agri-commodities

## (xvii) Creation of Corpus Funds

- a.  Micro Irrigation Fund - Rs. 10,000 crore
- b.  Agricultural  Infrastructure  Fund  (AIF)  to  build  agri-logistics  (backward  & forward  linkages)  -  Rs.  100,000  crore  including  Rs  500  crores  for  Beekeeping
3. (xviii)  Formation and Promotion of 10,000 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs).

## Annexure II THE STEPS TAKEN BY THE GOVERNMENT FOR IMPROVEMENT IN EMPLOYMENT

## OPPORTUNITIES

1. In rural areas, wages under MGNREGA have been enhanced from Rs.182 to Rs.202 per day for the benefit of rural workers including returning migrant workers.
2. Various initiatives have been taken by the Ministry of Labour and Employment as part of Pradhan Mantri Garib KalyanYojana(PMGKY) and Atmanirbhar Bharat which, inte ralia, include (i)  payment  of  12%  employers'  share  and  12%  employees'  share  under  Employees'  Provident Fund  (EPF),  totalling  24%  by  the  Government  of  India  for  six  wage  months  from  March  to August, 2020 for all the establishments having up to 100 employees with 90% of such employees earning less than Rs.15,000 monthly wage; (ii) reduction in PF contribution from 12% to 10% of wages for the wage months of May, June and July, 2020; (iii) non-refundable Covid advance from the PF by amending the EPF Scheme, 1952; (iv) extension in the date of filing of returns;  (v) issuing advisory to promptly attend to distress calls of workers/employees and also guide them in temporary shelters; and (vi) for taking preventive measures to contain the spread of Covid - 19.
3. Further, in order to boost employment and livelihood opportunities for migrant workers, returning  to  villages,  in  the  wake  of  COVID-19  outbreak,  Ministry  of  Rural  Development, Government of India launched GaribKalyanRojgarAbhiyaan on 20th June 2020. The Abhiyaan focussed  on  durable  rural  infrastructure  and  providing  modern  facilities  like  internet  in  the villages. Skill Mapping of the rural migrant labour was also done to enhance their employability on the basis of the skills, they possess, to enable them work closer to their homes. The Abhiyaan involves intensified and focused implementation of 25 target driven works to provide employment and create infrastructure in the rural areas of 116 districts of 6 States with a resource envelope of Rs 50,000 crore. The Abhiyaan has already generated 50,78,68,671 man-days.
4. For  the  benefit  of  50  lakh  street  vendors,  Government  of  India  has  also  launched SVANidhi  Scheme  to  provide  them  collateral  free  working  capital  loan  upto  Rs.10,000/-  to resume their lost livelihood due to Covid and lock-down.
5. Financial  package  of  Rupees  Twenty  Seven  lakh  crore  (aprox)  under  'AatmNirbhar Bharat' has been launched specifically to inter-alia create employment opportunities, for migrant workers,  workers  of  unorganized  sector,  strengthening  of  MSME  Sector  and  promoting  rural economy. It includes several initiatives for all these sectors.
6. Ministry  of  Labour  &  Employment  has  taken  the  decision  to  extend  the  scheme  of AtalBeemitKalyanYojna for another one year i.e. from 1st July, 2020 to 30 th June, 2021. It  has also been decided to enhance the rate of unemployment relief under the scheme to 50% of wages from earlier rate of 25% along with relaxation of eligibility conditions for insured workers who have lost their employment due to COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdown.
7. Ministry of Food Processing Industries have sanctioned 700 food processing/preservation and infrastructure projects in which migrant labourers can be employed.
8. In  order  to  resolve  the  grievances  of  migrant  workers  during  lockdown,  Ministry  of Labour and Employment set up 20 Control Rooms all over the country. During lockdown, more than 15000 complaints of the workers were resolved through these Control Rooms and due to the intervention of Ministry more than two lakh workers were paid their due wages amounting to about Rs. 295 crores.

9. Approximately 80 crore beneficiaries have been  provided additional  5 kg wheat  or  rice and 1 kg of preferred pulses, free of cost every month till November, 2020 under provisions of National Food Security Act.

In  response  to  the  Government  of  India's  directions,  the  State  Welfare  Boards  have cumulatively  disbursed  around  Rs.5618  crore,  to  approx.  1.83  crore  Building  and  Other Construction (BOC) Workers during lockdown and thereafter. In addition to this, around 30 lakh

10. BOC workers were also provided food relief packages.

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