(a) whether it is a fact that the farmers in the country are facing problems one after one in last few years like COVID, continuous rising of petroleum products, new farm laws passed by the Government etc.;
(b) whether the Government is realising that they are working against the farmers interest and also against the recommendations made by the Swaminathan Committee; and
(c) if so, the steps taken/being taken by the Government in this regard?
MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
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(a): During COVID-19, the agriculture sector had functioned smoothly and the Government of India had taken all necessary measures to ensure smooth sowing harvesting of operations by exempting farming and allied activities from lockdown.
(b) to (c) : Government of India is committed to work for the enhancement of the income of the farmers. Following the announcement in the Union Budget 2018-19 to fix the MSP at a minimum of 1.5 times of the cost of production, the government has increased the MSP of all the mandated crops since 2018-19 with a return of at least 50% over all India weighted average cost of production.
The Department is taking a number of steps for the welfare of farmers. A few of such steps are as under:
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PM-KISAN was launched with the aim to provide income support by way of cash benefit to all land holding farmers to fulfill their agriculture requirements. Under the scheme, a financial benefit of Rs. 6000/- per year is provided to the beneficiary farmer’s payable in three equal installments of Rs. 2000/- each. A total of 10.59 crore farmers have already benefited from the scheme.
Agri Infrastructure Fund (AIF) of Rs. 1 lakh crore was launched to provide a medium – long term debt financing facility for investment in viable projects for post – harvest management infrastructure and community farming assets through interest subvention and financial support.
Scheme for Formation and Promotion of 10,000 FPOs with a total budgetary provision of Rs. 6865 Crore has been launched. Under the Scheme, formation of 10,000 FPOs across the country is targeted in five years till 2023-24.
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