Category: Public Affairs

The seed minikits of pulses are distributed to the farmers of major pulse growing States under the National Food Security Mission (NFSM). The district wise allocation and distribution of seed minikits is managed by the respective State Governments.

The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) is implemented by the States under the National Food Security Mission (NFSM). The States transfer the benefit to the targeted beneficiaries through DBT by using Aadhar enabled system. Many states viz., Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra etc have reported Aadhaar enabled distribution of seed minikits. The production and productivity of pulses under seed minikits programme is primarily monitored by State Government field functionaries and State Food Security Mission Executive Committee (SFSM-EC) headed by Chief Secretary/Agriculture Production Commissioner. Besides, field visits of seed minikits fields are also undertaken by National Level Monitoring Teams (NALMOTS) constituted by The Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. As a result of the various interventions under NFSM-Pulses programme, the production of pulses has increased from 16.32 million metric tonnes in 2015-16 to 25.56 million metric tonnes in 2020-21 (3rd Advance Estimates). The productivity of pulses has also increased from 655 kg/ha to 878 kg/ha during the same period.

This information was given in a written reply by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in Lok Sabha today.

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Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Press Release dated 21 July 2021

The Government has adopted several developmental programmes, schemes, reforms and policies that focus on higher incomes for the farmers and to promote Sustainable Agriculture and Farmers Prosperity. All these policies & programmes are being supported by higher budgetary allocations, non-budgetary financial resources by way of creating Corpus Funds like Micro Irrigation Fund and Agri-marketing scheme to strengthen eNAM and GrAMs, as also in the Ministry of Fisheries,Animal Husbandry and Dairying and to promote dairy and fishery sectors. There have been several reforms to unleash the potential and these include Market Reforms like Model APLMC (Promotion & Facilitation) Act, 2017; Establishment of Gramin Agriculture Markets (GrAMs); Agri-Export Policy, 2018; The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion & Facilitation) Act, 2020; The Farmers (Empowerment & Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act. 2020; Amendments to Essential Commodities Act, 1955; Promotion of 10,000 FPOs with necessary financial support under Atma Nirbhar Package (Agriculture) and Supplementary Income transfers under PM-KISAN; Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna  (PMFBY);  Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY); Increase in Minimum Support Price (MSPs) for all Kharif & Rabi Crops ensuring a minimum of 50 percent of profit margin on the cost of production; Har Med Par Ped; Bee-Keeping; Rashtriya Gokul Mission; Blue Revolution; Interest Subvention Scheme; Kisan Credit Card (KCC) that now offers production loan to even dairy & fishery farmers besides agricultural crops etc.

             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 (PM-KMY) 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 e-NAM initiative to provide farmers an electronic 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. The agriculture credit flow target has been set at Rs. 13.50 lakh crore for the F.Y.2019-20, Rs.15.00 lakh crore for F.Y. 2020-21 and Rs 16.50 lakh crore for FY 2021-22.

(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. KCC will be issued within 14 days from the receipt of completed application.

(xvi) Several market reforms have been rolled out . These include

1. Model APLMC (Promotion & Facilitation) Act, 2017
2. Establishment of 22,000 number of Gramin Agriculture Markets (GrAMs) as aggregation platforms
3. Agri-Export Policy, that targets to double agri-exports by 2022
4. The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion & Facilitation) Act., 2020
5. The Farmers (Empowerment & Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act., 2020
6. Amendments to Essential Commodities Act, 1955, that deregulates various agri-commodities
7. Promotion of 10,000 FPOs by 2024

(xvii) Creation of Corpus Funds

1. Micro Irrigation Fund – Rs. 10,000 crore
2. Agri-marketing Fund to strengthen eNAM and GrAMs – Rs. 2,000 crore
3. Agricultural Infrastructure Fund (AIF) to build agri-logistics (backward & forward linkages) – Rs. 100,000 crore including Rs 500 crores for Bee-keeping

This information was given in a written reply by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in Lok Sabha today.

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Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Press release dated 21 July 2021

Ministry of Communications

BharatNet Project: Tender invited for Public Private Partnership

New tender to cover 3.61 lakh Villages in 16 States

PPP for a concession period of 30 years

Government to provide Viability Gap Funding of Rs. 19,041 croresPosted Date:- Jul 20, 2021

Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL), on behalf of Department of Telecommunication, (the “Authority”) has invited global tender for the Development (Creation, Upgradation, Operation & Maintenance and Utilisation) of BharatNet through Public Private Partnership model in 9 separate packages across 16 states for a concession period of 30 years. Under this project, the government will provide a maximum Grant of Rs. 19041 Crore as Viability Gap Funding. 

The Project shall cover an estimated 3.61 lakh Villages (including Gram Panchayats) across Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.

The existing BharatNet was connecting all the Gram Panchayats (GPs) of the country by laying of OFC (primarily) between Block and GPs. The scope of BharatNet has now been enhanced to connect all the Inhabited Villages of the country, approx. 6.43 lakhs (inclusive of GPs).

The scope of work under BharatNet PPP Project includes:

• Connecting the remaining unconnected GPs under BharatNet project (Phase 1 & Phase 2) and all the inhabited Villages beyond the GPs.
• Upgradation of the existing BharatNet Network from Linear to Ring topology.
• Operation and Maintenance (O&M) and Utilisation of the existing as well as the newly deployed network.

The existing BharatNet network across these 16 States will become part of this Project. Last Date of submission of Tender bid is 24/08/2021

The project will be executed through a Design, Build, Finance, Operate & Transfer (DBFOT) concession on PPP framework. The idea is to harness private sector’s capability, capacity, and efficiency for O&M, utilization and revenue generation to make BharatNet more effective and accessible. This would also serve the objective of BharatNet to have social inclusion, through effective delivery of Govt. schemes and citizen centric services using broadband, and also to strengthen e- Governance, e -Education, Tele medicine, e- Banking etc.

BBNL is carrying out an open, competitive bidding process with single stage, two-part bidding (‘Qualification bid’ and ‘Financial Bid’) for the selection of the Bidder for awarding the Project. The bids for each of the package need to be submitted separately.

Tender documents will be available for downloading from 20.7.2021, 15.00 Hrs. from CPP portal www.etenders.gov.in. The document can also be viewed from BBNL website http://www.bbnl.nic.in.

Once awarded, the selected Bidder shall create a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), sign the agreement, achieve Financial Closure and undertake creation, upgradation, operation & maintenance and utilisation of BharatNet across the concession period.

The BharatNet infrastructure is a middle mile network that is presently leased to service providers for providing affordable high-speed broadband to rural population – individuals, households and institutions. BharatNet is Govt. of India’s flagship project and is considered to be the backbone of ‘Digital India’ aiming to reduce the digital divide between urban and rural India.

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The Government is taking various measures to ease out liquidity and steep increase in commodity prices and its impact on infrastructure on the back of COVID-19 pandemic. This was stated by Minister of State for Finance Shri Pankaj Chaudhary in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.

The Minister stated that measures have also been announced in Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Package (ANBP) to provide support to sectors including infrastructure to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. In the announcement made on 28^th June, 2021 to give relief to the economy inter-alia Rs 1.1 lakh crore loan guarantee scheme for COVID-19 affected sectors and additional Rs 1.5 lakh crore for Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme have been announced.

The Minister further said that the Government is periodically reviewing the capital expenditure (CAPEX) of Infrastructure projects in the country to strengthen economic growth. Ministries/Departments have been instructed to frontload the CAPEX spending of infra projects in order to provide boost to infrastructure sector.

The performance security requirement in Central Government contracts has been reduced from 10% to 3% for all tenders/contracts issued concluded till 31.12.2021 and requirement of bid security has been waived till the end of 2021, the Minister stated.

Ministry of Finance Press release dated 20 July 2021

There is a WhatsApp message being circulated that stock limits on pulses have been removed. In this regard it is clarified that Stock limits imposed on Pulses vide Order dated 2.7.21 have not been removed and are being enforced. Government is closely monitoring the implementation of these Orders by the States.

Central Government has also shared information with the States where there is a mismatch between the stocks declared by the Stockists on the portal developed by Department of Consumer Affairs and loans taken from the Bank for pulses stocks or the quantity imported by importers. States have been asked to take strict action against all those violating the stock limits.

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Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution Press release dated 15th July 2021