Delhi, Dec 24: Asserting that the Modi Government is totally committed towards the welfare of farmers, the Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Social Justice & Empowerment, Rattan Lal Kataria has stated that the Parliament has passed the three farm bills for improving the overall economic condition of the farmers, which is congruent to the Union Government’s goal of doubling the farmer’s income by removing existing restrictions and old shackles.
Kataria, in a statement, issued here today, said that these bills will provide new rights & opportunities to farmers and further empower them in the long run. He strongly criticized the opposition parties who are trying to play politics over this matter& termed them as opportunists.
Kataria informed that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi shall mark good governance day by transferring Rs 18,000 Crores directly into the bank accounts of 9 Crore farmers of the country under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana.
He said that PM shall address the farmers at 12:00 noon on 25thDecember which marks the birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna Late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, celebrated as Good Governance day throughout the country.
Allaying any fears among the farmers and strongly rejecting the false propaganda being spread on discontinuation of MSP, Kataria said that the Government has continuously increased the Minimum Support price for procurement of crops.
In the year 2019-2020, the Union Government has cumulatively increased the MSP up to 2.5 times as compared to the year 2013-14.In fact, from the year 2018-19, a decision was made to compute the MSP at 1.5 times the production cost of crops.
Kataria stressed that the Modi Government has been working tirelessly towards the welfare of farmers. Giving out the details, the Minister of State said that the Modi Government has increased the budgetary outlay for agriculture sector from Rs 21,933 Crores in the year 2013-14 to Rs 1,34,399 in the year 2020-21, an increase of almost 6 times.
Under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, a sum of Rs 95,779 Crore has been transferred, till date, benefitting 10.59 Crore farmers of the Nation. Talking about crop insurance, he informed that around 6.6 Crore farmers availed benefits under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. A total claim amount of over 87,000 Crores has been processed under this scheme.
