Impacting Farmers’ lives through Science Biotech-Kisan & Cattle Genomics

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare
23-March, 2018 12:47 IST
Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shri Radha Mohan Singh delivers inaugural address at the 5th India Maize Summit 2018

Area under hybrid varieties is increasing leading to improved nutrition and availability of low-cost high quality food: Shri Radha Mohan Singh Maize agribusiness companies should make special efforts to explore various opportunities in agri-marketing: Union Agriculture Minister ICAR-IIMR, Ludhiana mandated to carry out advanced research for enhancing production, productivity & sustainability of maize.: Shri Singh

Maize production in India has seen a boom in recent years which has been possible due to increase in area as well as productivity. This was stated by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shri Radha Mohan Singh at the inaugural event of the 5th India Maize Summit 2018 at FICCI, New Delhi. Delivering the inaugural address, Shri Singh said that during 1950-51, India produced only 1.73 MT, which has reached 25.89 MT in 2016-17 and is expected to cross 27 MT in 2017-18. This The average productivity in India is 2.43 ton/ha.

The Agriculture Minister said that after looking at the foodgrain demand and consumer choice in the global arena, it is well-known that Maize is highly preferred in most countries, including developing countries like India. In India, Maize is the third most important foodgrain after wheat and rice. The four states, namely Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan account for more than half of the total maize production. Currently, India is among the top five exporters of Maize worldwide. Despite that, only 25% of India’s population uses it as a food crop. Area under hybrid varieties is increasing thereby leading to improved nutrition and availability of low-cost high quality food. This has resulted in demand increasing at a much faster pace. He said the presence of poultry and starch industry in this Summit signifies that there is a serious demand for maize in the country.

Congratulating FICCI and PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) for coming up with a Knowledge Report on Maize Vision 2022, the Minister expressed happiness over the two bodies thinking on the lines of achieving the Government’s vision of doubling farmers’ income by 2022. He lauded the efforts of FICCI in bringing the entire Maize fraternity under one roof. He suggested that Maize agribusiness companies should make special efforts to explore various opportunities in agri-marketing.

The Minister said only 15% of cultivated area of Maize in India is irrigated and therefore it is necessary to have adequate irrigation facilities for its cultivation so that the production, productivity and quality of Maize improves. He informed that the ICAR-Indian Institute of Maize Research (IIMR), Ludhiana has been mandated to carry out basic, strategic and applied research aimed at enhancing production, productivity and sustainability of Maize.

Shri Singh further added that the Government is promoting maize cultivation in 265 districts across 28 states by providing necessary financial assistance through various interventions. Since 2015-16, the mission is being implemented on 60:40 sharing pattern between the Centre and State governments and on 90:10 sharing pattern between the Centre and Northeastern & 3 Hill States. Maize, he said, offers a huge potential for internal consumption as well as export.

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Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers
23-March, 2018 17:12 IST
Availability of Urea more than sales, there is no shortage of urea in any part of the country: Shri Rao Inderjit Singh

Minister of State for Planning (IC) and Chemicals & Fertilizers, Shri Rao Inderjit Singh, in a written reply to a question by Kumari Selja on shortage of urea in the country and steps taken by Government to redress the hardships faced by the poor farmers, in Rajya Sabha today, informed that there is no shortage of urea in any part of the country.



The Minister provided State-wise, requirement (demand), availability and sales of urea in the country. It can be seen from the statements that availability of urea was more than the sales and therefore there is no shortage, Shri Singh added.





State-wise Requirement, Availability & Sales of urea during 2017-18 (As on 20.03.2018)

State

Urea

Requirement projected
Availability
Sales

Andhra Pradesh

1550.00

1438.55

1390.97

Assam

295.00

356.81

347.04

Bihar

2100.00

2009.03

1961.69

Chhattisgarh

670.00

635.76

567.62

Goa

2.88

2.23

2.23

Gujarat

2000.00

2239.80

2188.28

Haryana

1800.00

2075.95

1997.44

Himachal Pradesh

66.00

69.16

67.69

Jammu and kashmir

128.01

134.70

123.09

Jharkhand

240.00

213.26

205.43

Karnataka

1350.00

1338.04

1283.34

Kerala

110.00

134.95

130.02

Madhya Pradesh

2200.00

2417.43

2279.65

Maharashtra

2700.00

2302.87

2246.75

Manipur

22.00

20.77

20.77

Odisha

525.00

512.30

505.75

Puducherry

14.00

10.46

10.19

Punjab

2550.00

2799.80

2713.03

Rajasthan

1850.00

1687.90

1647.70

Tamil Nadu

900.00

850.67

847.75

Telangana

1380.00

1420.09

1377.83

Tripura

43.00

17.68

17.68

Uttarakhand

235.00

314.02

304.24

Uttar Pradesh

5850.00

6105.61

5758.27

West Bengal

1250.00

1207.91

1171.69

TOTAL

29852.29

30334.96

29185.30



Further, Shri Singh informed that before the commencement of each cropping season, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW), in consultation with all the State Governments, assesses the requirement of fertilizers. After assessment of requirement, DAC&FW projects month-wise requirement of fertilizers.



On the basis of month-wise & state-wise projection given by DAC&FW, Department of Fertilizers allocates sufficient/ adequate quantities of fertilizers to States by issuing monthly supply plan and continuously monitors the availability through following system:

• The movement of all major subsidized fertilizers is being monitored throughout the country by an on-line web based monitoring system called integrated Fertilizer Monitoring System (iFMS);
• The State Governments are regularly advised to coordinate with manufacturers and importers of fertilizers for streamlining the supplies through timely placement of indents for railway rakes through their state institutional agencies like Markfed etc.
• Regular Weekly Video Conference is conducted jointly by Department of Agriculture & Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW), Department of Fertilizers (DoF), and Ministry of Railways with State Agriculture Officials and corrective actions are taken to dispatch fertilizer as indicated by the State Governments.
• The gap between demand (requirement) and production is met through imports. The import for the season is also finalised well in advance to ensure timely availability.

Thus, with the steps as indicated above, Department of Fertilizers ensures adequate availability of fertilizers to the farmers. The availability of fertilizers is adequate in the country, the Minister informed.



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Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers
23-March, 2018 17:11 IST
Government is encouraging use of fortified, soil specific, crop specific and area specific customized fertilizers: Shri Rao Inderjit Singh

Farmers being made aware about Crop Nutrition and Balanced use of Fertilizers by implementing the Soil Health Card Scheme

Minister of State for Planning (IC) and Chemicals & Fertilizers, Shri Rao Inderjit Singh, in a written reply to a question by Shri Md. Nadimul Haque on awareness about crop nutrition among farmers and the steps have been taken by Government to promote value added fertilizers or specialty nutrients in the country, in Rajya Sabha today, informed that in order to encourage the balanced use of fertilizer, the Government of India is encouraging the use of fortified fertilizers and so far 25 fortified fertilizers have been incorporated in the Fertilizer (Control) Order (FCO), 1985.


Also, the Minister informed that the Government is encouraging the use of customized fertilizers. These are soil specific, crop specific and area specific. So far, the Government of India has notified 34 customized fertilizers for around 100 districts of the states namely Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka for crops namely Rice, Wheat, Oil Palm, Sugarcane, Chilli and Potato.


Further, giving reply to the question on whether Government provides subsidy on any of the value added fertilizers, Shri Singh informed that any variant of subsidized P&K fertilizers covered under Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) policy and are fortified / coated with Boron and Zinc, as provided under FCO, is eligible for subsidy. Such fortified / coated fertilizers will attract an additional per tonne subsidy to encourage their application along with primary nutrients as per the rates mentioned below:

S. No.
Nutrients for fortification as per FCO
Additional subsidy (Rs/MT) for fortified / coated fertilizers

1
Boron (B)
300

2
Zinc (Zn)
500


Informing the House about the steps taken by Government to increase awareness about crop nutrition among the farmers, Shri Singh said that the Government of India is promoting the use of fertilizers on soil test based recommendation by implementing a Soil Health Card Scheme. The Soil Health Card not only provides the soil fertility status, but also recommends the dose of fertilizer to be applied for a particular crop.



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[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation
23-March, 2018 09:18 IST
MDWS held National Consultation on Swajal Community Approach to Rural Water on World Water Day

The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation organized a National Consultation on Swajal Community Approach to Rural Water in the capital on 22.03.18 to mark World Water Day. Swajal is a model for self-ownership and self-management of water resources in a community by members of the community itself. The Swajal model was first tried in the Uttarakhand area of undivided-UP around 20 years back, and is now being scaled up at national level with special focus on water-scarce areas.

The Minister of State, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Shri S.S Ahluwalia, in his inaugural address at the Consultation, spoke about respecting natural resources and conserving them to conserve humankind. He said that this ethic of conservation and community participation is at the core of the Swajal initiative. The main objective of the re-launch of the initiative, he said, is to make an effort to deliver tapped water to every household in the country through decisions made by the community, for the community, of the resources of the community. He also spoke about the importance of behavior change among the people of the country towards payment of user fees for clean water supply, to ensure that not only are the costs of water collection, purification and distribution are met, but also that the people value and conserve the water supplied to them. He said that, on World Water Day, it was important for all members of society to pledge to conserve water so that our future generations do not have to face the water crisis that parts of the country and world face today.

The Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Shri Parameswaran Iyer, in his keynote address on the occasion, welcomed the experienced practitioners and experts with grassroots experience present at the consultation, and said that Swajal is a fitting theme to be selected by the Ministry to focus on World Water Day as it will help in reviving community approaches to drinking water in the country again. He said that the Swajal pilot is going to be launched in 6 States, including water conservation, watershed development on a large scale. This will also be launched in the 115 aspirational districts selected by the Prime Minister for focus on all-round development.

The technical sessions on the occasion included presentations by experts, practitioners, and State governments on the initiatives undertaken by them to conserve water. The sessions began with a presentation from Shri Shishir Sinha, Development Commissioner, Government of Bihar, on the initiative “Har Ghar Nal ka Jal”, the Bihar government’s resolve to provide piped drinking water facility to every household of the State over the next 4 years through community approaches to water supply. Another presentation was made on the Uttarakhand Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project, which was the first Swajal initiative in the country, which is now being scaled countrywide.

Senior officials from the Ministry and State governments and representatives of NGOs and multilateral organizations from the water and sanitation sector were also present on the occasion.



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[Hindustani78]

The Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Radha Mohan Singh lighting the lamp at the Agri Vision 2018 - 3rd National Convention on Resource Conservation for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security, in New Delhi on March 24, 2018.

The Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Radha Mohan Singh releasing the publication at the Agri Vision 2018 - 3rd National Convention on Resource Conservation for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security, in New Delhi on March 24, 2018.

The Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Radha Mohan Singh at the Agri Vision 2018 - 3rd National Convention on Resource Conservation for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security, in New Delhi on March 24, 2018.

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Rural Development
25-March, 2018 16:03 IST
Note on SARAS Aajeevika Mela 2018

DeendayalAntyodayaYojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) is one of the flagship programmes of the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India to alleviate rural poverty. The programme aims to organize the rural poor women into their own institutions like Self Help Groups and their federations, Producers’ Collectives etc. and also ensure their financial inclusion and livelihoods support. Since its launch in 2011, the Mission has spread to 4456 Blocks of 584 Districts, across 29 States and 5 Union Territories. Women from 4.7 crore of the poorest and marginalized families have been mobilized into 39.9 lakh Self Help Groups, which have been federated into 2.20 lakh Village Organizations and 19,000 Cluster Level Federations. Women’s Self-Help Groups have now accessed Rs.151,000 crores of funds from banks. The Mission has succeeded in identifying and working with more than 33 lakh women farmers, to increase the productivity of farms and promote diversified livelihoods, especially by promoting entrepreneurship.

A major component under DAY-NRLM relates to skilling of rural poor youth for self-employment and wage employment. Towards this end the Ministry is implementing the DeenDayalUpadhyay -GrameenKaushalyaYojana (DDU-GKY) under DAY-NRLM. DDU-GKY is a placement Linked Skill Development scheme which seeks to build the Skills of the poor rural youth and place them in relatively higher wage employment sectors of the economy. As of Jan’18, 10.51 lakh youth have been trained and 6.5 lakh youth have been placed.

DAY-NRLM also provides support for establishing Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs) in each district of the country in collaboration with the Banks and the State Governments to provide training to the rural youth from the poor households to take-up economic activities. Currently 582 RSETIs are functioning in the country. Cumulatively,26 lakh youth have been trained and 17.2 lakh have been settled as on January, 2018.

The Ministry is also implementing MahilaKisanSahshaktikaranPariyojana (MKSP), as a sub scheme under DAY-NRLM with an aim of promoting agriculture based livelihoods of rural women by strengthening community institutions of poor women farmers to promote sustainable agriculture. MKSP focuses on agriculture, non-timber forest produce and livestock interventions. It provides three kind of services to the farmers, namely:

• Extension services
• Training capacity building and handholding services
• Facilitation for convergence with other line department to access the benefit from other schemes/ programmes.

So far this Ministry has approved 80 projects under MKSP covering about 33 lakhs mahilakisans in 21 states and one union territory with central allocation of about Rs. 822 crores


Another sub-scheme under DAY-NRLM is the Start Up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP).SVEP aims to support entrepreneurs in rural areas to set up local enterprises. Implemented in 17 States since 2016-17, 13772 enterprises have been supported under SVEP resulting in generation of employment for 28370 beneficiaries.



In August 2017 the Ministry launched the AajeevikaGrameen Express Yojana as another sub-scheme of DAY-NRLM with the (AGEY) aim to provide safe, affordable and community monitored rural transport services to connect remote rural villages. As on date, over 200 vehicles are plying on the roads, many of which are being driven by the women themselves.



Marketing of products of the SHG women is one of the major concerns of the Ministry of Rural Development. In order to empower the rural women artisans and to bring them above the poverty line, through access to better market and marketing systems, the Ministry of Rural Development has been supporting the organisation of exhibitions under the brand name of SARAS where Self Help Groups from different states participate and sell their products. At present, two SARAS Fairs in a State are sponsored by the Ministry during a financial year by way of providing assistance uptoRs 40.00 lakh per fair in Metropolitan cities (Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad) and uptoRs 35.00 lakhs per fair in non-Metropolitan cities.



In addition, the Ministry has been organizing SARAS fairs at Delhi as a part of India International Trade Fair (IITF) and also as ShishirMela in DilliHaat.Taking this forward, this Ministry had organized the AajeevikaMela in May, 2017 at India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO). TheAajeevikaMela2017 had over 500 stalls that showcased a number of traditional arts and craft items produced by rural poor SHG women, as also a number of products which have added value to the farm and non-farm produce of these women. Inspired by the success of the AajeevikaMela2017, DAY-NRLM is organizing the SARAS AajeevikaMela 2018 in Hall No. 7, PragatiMaidan, New Delhi from 23rd March, 2018 to 1st of April, 2018 in which SHG women from all states of the country will be participating for exhibition and sale of their products in over 350 stalls. The stalls will display the skills, potential and hard work of our women from across India. The products ranges from handlooms, handicrafts, artefacts and heritage products, tribal ornaments, decorative items, metallic products, earthen utensils, paintings, organic food items, spices, processed food products, soft toys, utility items, brass and wrought iron products.



The SARAS AajeevikaMela 2018 in New Delhi is an endeavour of DAY-NRLM to provide to the rural women producers a national platform and an opportunity to showcase their products, and seek buyers, either individuals or bulk buyers for sale nationally / internationally. On this occasion, the Ministry will also be bringing out a directory of the products of all the women who will be showcasing their products in the AajeevikaMela 2018.Cultural programmes are also being organized as a part of the Mela. Some workshops for the women participants for honing their soft skills as well as skills in packaging, managing consumers etc. will be organized during the Mela.



DAY-NRLM requests all residents of NCR to visit the SARAS AajeevikaMela 2018, meet the creative rural women artisans across the country who have chosen to help themselves.

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The Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Radha Mohan Singh lighting the lamp at the 3rd Agri Leadership Summit-2018, in Rohtak, Haryana on March 25, 2018. The Governor of Haryana, Shri Kaptan Singh Solanki, the Minister for Agriculture, Haryana, Shri Om Prakash Dhankar and other dignitaries are also seen.

The Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Radha Mohan Singh at the 3rd Agri Leadership Summit-2018, in Rohtak, Haryana on March 25, 2018. The Governor of Haryana, Shri Kaptan Singh Solanki, the Minister for Agriculture, Haryana, Shri Om Prakash Dhankar and other dignitaries are also seen.

The Vice President, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu presenting the degrees to Students, at the 7th Convocation of Indian Institute of Management, in Rohtak, Haryana on March 25, 2018. The Governor of Haryana, Shri Kaptan Singh Solanki and other dignitaries are also seen.

The Vice President, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu presenting the degrees to Students, at the 7th Convocation of Indian Institute of Management, in Rohtak, Haryana on March 25, 2018. The Governor of Haryana, Shri Kaptan Singh Solanki and other dignitaries are also seen.

The Vice President, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu presenting the degrees to Students, at the 7th Convocation of Indian Institute of Management, in Rohtak, Haryana on March 25, 2018. The Governor of Haryana, Shri Kaptan Singh Solanki and other dignitaries are also seen.

The Vice President, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu presenting the degrees to Students, at the 7th Convocation of Indian Institute of Management, in Rohtak, Haryana on March 25, 2018.

The Vice President, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu addressing the 7th Convocation of Indian Institute of Management, in Rohtak, Haryana on March 25, 2018.

The Vice President, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu addressing the 7th Convocation of Indian Institute of Management, in Rohtak, Haryana on March 25, 2018. The Governor of Haryana, Shri Kaptan Singh Solanki and other dignitaries are also seen.

The Vice President, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu with the Faculty and Students at the 7th Convocation of Indian Institute of Management, in Rohtak, Haryana on March 25, 2018. The Governor of Haryana, Shri Kaptan Singh Solanki and other dignitaries are also seen.

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Rural Development
26-March, 2018 18:16 IST
Aajeevika making rural women self-reliant fast-Tomar

Union Minister of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Mines Shri Narendra Singh Tomar today inaugurated the SARAS Aajeevika Mela 2018 here and said that the Aajeevika mission is bringing huge socio-economic transformation in the lives of rural women. Welcoming all skilled artisans and SHG women from across the country to the SARAS Mela, he stated that Ministry of Rural Development is committed to supporting the rural poor, especially women members of Self Help Groups in improving their economic and social status. Towards this end, the Ministry is implementing the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission which aims at making the rural women confident, aware and self-dependent. The SARAS Aajeevika Mela is an attempt to provide direct marketing platform to the rural women producers so that they get proper prices for their products by eliminating middle men. He also informed that the Ministry promotes rural haats for providing a platform for SHG women and other producers in the rural areas to sell their produce. The Ministry is planning to set up 22000 rural haats all over the country during the FY 2018-19.

On this occasion, Shri Tomar released two publications of DAY-NRLM programme (i) Self Help Group’s Directory, which is a list of SHGs participating in the SARAS Aajeevika Mela 2018 along with their products and their contact details; and (ii) Compendium of Enterprises of Rural Women, which is a collection of 32 success stories of individual and collective women led enterprises across the country.

Speaking on the occasion, Secretary Rural Development Shri Amarjeet Sinha said that out of 5 crore women associated with the scheme, about one and half crore have direct bank linkages. He also informed that the loan to Women Self-Help Groups have increased to Rs 63,000 crore from Rs 23,000 crore in 2014-15 and the NPA for this loan is mere 2.6 percent. Shri Sinha said that women from the hardcore naxal areas are coming forward to avail the benefits of the scheme and writing new stories of development like the e-rickshaw initiative of the Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh.

Later Hon’ble Minister and all the dignitaries visited the stalls and encouraged the rural women. A tour of the Mela was organized for the media persons wherein they got opportunity to interact with the women entrepreneurs and capture their stories. A press meet was organized with Hon’ble Minister along with all the dignitaries of the event.

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) is one of the flagship programmes of the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India to alleviate rural poverty. The programme aims at mobilizing all rural poor women into self managed community institutions ( Self Help Groups, Village Organisations, Cluster Level Federations, Producer Groups/Companies), in a phased manner. The Mission also aims at promoting financial inclusion of the community institutions and provide support for strengthening and diversification of livelihoods resources of the women member households.

Since its launch in 2011, the Mission has expanded to 4456 Blocks of 584 Districts, across 29 States and 5 Union Territories. The Mission has thus far mobilized 4.7 crore member household 39.9 lakh Self Help Groups, which are in turn federated into 2.20 lakh Village Organizations and 19,000 Cluster Level Federations. As part of Financial Inclusion agenda, the Mission has enabled the Women SHGs to access a Bank Credit of Rs. 151,000 crores with an NPA of around 2.6% in the whole Women SHG portfolio.

Under a sub-scheme called Mahila Kisan Sahshaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP), the Mission has been supporting about 33 lakh women farmers to enhance farm productivity and diversify their livelihood asset base. In addition, the Mission is promoting individual and collective enterprises of SHG women both under farm and non-farm sector.


The Ministry is also implementing sub-schemes under DAY-NRLM to support skill training and placement support under Deen Dayal Upadhyay -Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) and Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs) scheme and for enterprise support under Start Up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) and Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana .

SHG members are producing various kinds of agricultural and non-agricultural/handicraft products but face problems in marketing their produce. In order to promote marketing of the products of these SHG women, Ministry of Rural Development has been supporting organisation of exhibitions under the brand name of SARAS where Self Help Groups from different states participate to exhibit and sell their products. At present, two SARAS Fairs in State are sponsored by the Ministry in each state during a financial year by way of providing assistance upto Rs 40.00 lakh per fair in Metropolitan cities (Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad) and upto Rs 35.00 lakhs per fair in non-Metropolitan cities.

In addition, the Ministry has been organizing SARAS fairs at Delhi as a part of India International Trade Fair (IITF) and also as Shishir Mela in Dilli Haat. Taking this forward, this Ministry had organized the Aajeevika Mela in April, 2017 at India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO). The Aajeevika Mela 2017 had over 500 stalls that showcased a number of traditional arts and craft items produced by rural poor SHG women.

As part of the 2018 mela, about 350 stalls have been set up by SHG women from different states for exhibition cum sale of a wide verity of products. The products on exhibition range from handlooms, handicrafts, artefacts and heritage products, tribal ornaments, decorative items, metallic products, earthen utensils and paintings to organic food items, spices, processed foods, soft toys, utility items, brass and wrought iron products.

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The Union Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Mines, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar inaugurating the SARAS Aajeevika Mela-2018, in New Delhi on March 26, 2018. The Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Shri Amarjeet Sinha is also seen.

The Union Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Mines, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar releasing the Compendium of Enterprises by Rural Women at the inauguration of the SARAS Aajeevika Mela-2018, in New Delhi on March 26, 2018. The Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Shri Amarjeet Sinha and other dignitaries are also seen.

The Union Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Mines, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar delivering the keynote address at the inauguration of the SARAS Aajeevika Mela-2018, in New Delhi on March 26, 2018. The Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Shri Amarjeet Sinha is also seen.

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare
27-March, 2018 16:46 IST
Dedicated research being carried out to enhance food production through National Agricultural Research System: Shri Parshottam Rupala

The Minister of State for Agriculture and farmers welfare Shri Parshottam Rupala in a written reply to a question on research in food production in Lok Sabha stated that the ICAR is well aware about the fact and dedicated research is being carried out to enhance food production through National Agricultural Research System. The NARS is continuously developing improved varieties, value added products, production and protection technologies which resulted to increase production and productivity of food crops in the country. As per second advanced estimate a record production of 277.48 mt of food grains and 305.42 mt fruits and vegetables have been achieved in the country during 2017-18 which provides food and nutritional security to people of the country. ICAR is initiating the new research programme in the areas of Hybrid technology, Transgenic, Molecular Breeding, Gene Editing, Agro-biodiversity and Bio-fortification etc. to fulfil the future food requirement of the ever growing population of the country.

Replying to a sub question on whether the Government has identified the States which are environmentally more suitable for cultivation of bananas and sugarcane other than the current major producing states, the Minister of State informed that Banana & Sugarcane are being cultivated in Tropical and subtropical areas of the country due to suitable agro-climatic conditions and availability of adequate irrigation facility.

The Government has recognized the states of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand etc. as non-traditional states for banana cultivation. States where banana was grown as a back-yard crop have also taken up commercial cultivation especially North Eastern states like Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur, Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Sugarcane is being cultivated mainly in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Gujarat, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Haryana. However there is very little scope to extend the sugarcane area in other states of the country.

The Government is encouraging banana cultivation through sensitization, training, supply of quality planting material and other inputs. Besides, Govt. has introduced CHAMAN (Co-ordinated Horticulture Assessment and Management Using geoiNformatics) Scheme for 7 horticultural crops (Potato, Onion, Chilli, Tomato, Mango, Banana and Citrus) in 12 major states in 180 districts to carry out research on horticultural crop condition studies, diseases assessment and precision farming.



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[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare
27-March, 2018 17:28 IST
ICAR is giving focused attention towards development, promotion and propagation of new technologies: Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat

690 Krishi Vigyan Kendras mandated for conducting front line demonstration at the farmer’s field, technology refinement, training and capacity building: Shri Shekhawat

The Minister of State for Agriculture and farmers welfare Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in a written reply to the question on development of new farm technologies in Lok Sabha stated that the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has overall 102 institutions comprising of 67 Research Institutes, 6 Bureaux, 14 Directorates and 15 National Research Centres mandated for conducting research in agriculture and allied areas besides 11 Agricultural Technology Application and Research Institutes (ATARIs) and 81 AICRPs/Network Projects mandated for coordinating, refining and demonstrating Agricultural Technologies/ innovation in the country. ICAR is giving focused attention towards development, promotion and propagation of new technologies i.e. high yielding and multi-stress resistant/tolerant varieties/hybrids using conventional and genomic tools in major crops; multi-nutrients rich varieties of rice, wheat, maize, lentil and pearl millet and improved quality of mustard and soybean; blast resistant wheat varieties; transgenic varieties in cotton, pigeonpea and chickpea; exploitation of gene editing technology for improving desired traits in rice and wheat and development of extra-early/early maturing varieties of pulses especially mungbean and pigeonpea.

The technologies developed in farm sector across the country during the last three years and the current year are:-

The research efforts of the Institutes/Centres/AICRPs have led to the development and release of 748 high yielding, stresses (biotic & abiotic) tolerant varieties/hybrids in different field crops for cultivation under different agro-climatic conditions during 2014-2017. Besides, 130 improved varieties of 54 important horticultural crops and 105 improved crop management technologies and package of practices for horticultural crops were also developed. More than 3.50 lakh quintals of breeder seeds of improved varieties of field crops and 18.5 lakh grafted plants, 12 lakh rooted cuttings and tuber crops, 90 tonnes of breeder/truthfully labelled seeds of vegetable crops, 5500 tonnes of breeders seed of potato and tropical tuber crops were produced and distributed during the period (2014-2017) for sustaining the effective seed chain in the states. These varieties and improved management practices have contributed significantly in increasing the production in field crops e.g. the production of total food grain increased from 252.02 million tons in 2014-15 to 275.68 million tons in 2016-17. The vegetable production increased from 166.6 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 176.2 million tonnes in 2016-2017. Similarly fruits production increased from 89.5 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 93.7 million tonnes in 2016-2017.

During the last 3.5 years ICAR developed 13 improved poultry, pig and sheep varieties and released (4 backyard poultry: Kamrupa in Assam, Narmadanidhi in MP, Jharsim in Chhattisgarh and Himsamridhi in HP; 8 pig varieties: HD-K75, Rani and Asha in Assam; Jharsuk in Jharkhand; Mannuthy White in Kerala; Lumsniang in Meghalaya; TANUVAS KTM Gold Crossbred Pig (Large White Yorkshire x Desi) in Tamil Nadu and “SVVU-T 17 Crossbred Pig”, (Large White Yorkshire x Desi) in Telangana and Avishan breed of Sheep suitable for rearing in dry zones of the country.

Developed 36 diagnostics and 9 vaccines / vaccine candidates for prevention and control of diseases (Diagnostics: JE, Brucellosis, FMD, Theileriosis, Listeriosis, Avian Influenza, E. coli in neo-natal kids, type-specific ELISA kit for differentiation of EHV1 & amp; 4 Infection, Equine piroplasmosis, Sandwich ELISA for PPR antigen with high sensitivity (95.34 to 96.81%), for detection of 1- 10 5 ppt AFM1 in milk, etc. Vaccines: PPR, Sheep pox, Equiherpabort, Updated equine influenza vaccine, Classical swine fever and Johne’s disease etc.). In addition, more than 145 new animal husbandry technologies were also developed by ICAR during the last 3.5 years.

In the area of fisheries, ICAR developed breeding and seed production technology of 9 food fish species (Cobia, Milkfish, Seabass, Silver pompano, Orange spotted grouper, Pink ear emperor, Long whiskers catfish, Chocolate mahseer, Pangusia labeo, Putia, Chaguni puti, and Mahanadi rita); the technology of marine cage farming and its dissemination through 1500 cages (principally in Gujrat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, TN and AP); 4 feeds for different life stages of important fish and shrimp species and their commercialization, breeding and seed production technology for 9 ornamental fishes and 5 high-value compounds and nutraceuticals for human health (Green mussel extract - CadalminTM GMe for pain & arthritis; Green algal extract - Cadalmin TM GAe for pain & arthritis; Seaweed antidiabetic extract - CadalminTM Ade for type-2 diabetes; Seaweed anti-obesity extract - CadalminTM Ace to combat obesity/dyslipidemia and Seaweed nutraceutical drink - Nutridrink’ for enhancing micronutrients).

To increase productivity, reduce cost of cultivation, reduce drudgery, improve value addition, conserve resources and provide alternate means for energy generation through improve farm mechanisation during the last 3 years, ICAR developed 72 new farm equipment/machines/gadgets and 34 new products/ process protocols and supplied over 16500 prototypes of agricultural machinery to farmers/ entrepreneurs. ICAR trained 710 rural youth for establishing Custom Hiring Centres in different parts of the country out of which 652 entrepreneurs established Custom Hiring Centres. ICAR equipped 194 startup companies and agri-entrepreneurs by providing necessary training and skills to start their new agri-ventures.

ICAR has developed and validated 623 district contingency plans and conducted skill development programs for 40.9 lakh farmers. Mridaprarikshak a minilab for soil analysis developed to support Government’s initiative of Soil Health Card. ICAR has also developed 45 Integrated Farming Systems (IFS) models in 23 states and 1 Union Territory covering all the 15 agro-climatic regions of the country. These models were tested and further validated in the fields of 1250 farmers each under various different agro ecologies covering 23 states of the country.

On the question of whether the Government has developed any mechanism to disseminate information about such innovation/technologies to the farmers, Shri Shekhawat informed that for delivering such benefits, the ICAR has established a network of 690 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) in the country, mandated for conducting front line demonstration at the farmer’s field, technology refinement, training and capacity building. The technologies duly tested and refined are thereafter passed on to line departments for large scale demonstration and transfer among farmers.

Highlighting the salient features of the Kisan portal and its advantages to the farmers, Shri Singh informed that in mKishan, around 2.75 crore farmers are registered who are continuously receiving crop specific advisories in their local language on their mobile sets. No internet is required for receiving such advisories. Experts from ICAR, IMD, and State Government down to the block level send crop specific advisories to registered farmers. Apart from mKishan, Kishan Suvidha mobile App has been developed for use of the farmers having smart phones and access to internet. Information about Agro advisory, weather, market price, plant protection etc. are provided to farmers with the click of a button.

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[Hindustani78]

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA)
28-March, 2018 20:07 IST
Cabinet approves Export of all edible oils in bulk (except mustard oil)

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the proposal of Ministry of Commerce & Industry for removal of prohibition on export of all varieties of edible oils except mustard oil. Mustard oil will continue to be exported only in consumer packs upto 5 Kgs and with a minimum export price of US $ 900 per tonne.

The CCEA has also approved empowering the Committee, chaired by Secretary, Department of Food & Public Distribution and comprising Secretaries of Department of Commerce, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Department of Revenue, Department of Consumer Affairs and DGFT, to review the export/import policy on all varieties of edible oils and consider measures such as quantitative restrictions, prior registration, imposition of Minimum Export Price (MEP) and changes in import duties depending on domestic production and demand, domestic and international prices and international trade volumes.

The Inter-Ministerial Committee, headed by the Commerce Secretary, mandated to review the export of edible oils in consumer packs & calibrate MEP from time to time, has been discontinued.

Impact:

Removing of restrictions on export of all edible oils is likely to provide additional marketing avenues for edible oils and oilseeds and will benefit the farmers by way of better realisation for oilseeds. Allowing export of edible oils may also result in utilization of idle capacity in India's edible oils industry and is a step towards Ease of Doing Business by removing confusion arising out of prohibition on export of edible oils and a plethora of exemptions.

Background:

The production of oilseeds in 2016-17 has seen a quantum jump in comparison to past two years. It is expected that the production of oilseeds in 2017-18 is going to sustain at the same levels. At present, only certain edible oils can be exported in bulk and other oils only in consumer packs upto 5 Kg with MEP. In order to support growing production of oilseeds and to explore additional avenues for marketing of edible oils, it is required to allow bulk export of all edible oils with the exception of mustard oil, which is an item of mass consumption in India.

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Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA)
28-March, 2018 20:01 IST
Cabinet approves continuation, strengthening and establishment of KrishiVigyanKendras till 2019-20

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the proposal of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education for continuation / strengthening, upto 2019-20, of 669 KrishiVigyanKendras(KVKs) established till 31.03.2017, 11 Agricultural Technology Application Research Institutes (ATARIs), support to the Directorates of Extension Education (DEEs) of Agricultural Universities (AUs) and all special programmes associated with the Scheme and establishment of 76 spill over KVKs as already approved in the 12th Plan.


Financial Outlay:

The financial outlay for the KVK Scheme [including Directorate of Knowledge Management in Agriculture (DKMA)] for 2017-20 shall be of Rs 2,82,400.72 lakh.

Details:

KVKs would act as knowledge and resource centre in the field of agriculture in the district and would build models of technology uptake and farmers' empowerment leading to support Government of India’s initiative of doubling farmers' income.

The special programmes which shall be initiated through the KVK Scheme are:

• a Network Project on New Extension Methodologies and Approaches; Nutri-sensitive Agricultural Resources and Innovations (NARI);
• programs tilted Knowledge Systems and Homestead Agriculture Management in Tribal Areas (KSHAMTA),
• Value Addition and Technology Incubation Centres in Agriculture (VATICA),
• Farm Innovation Resource Management (FIRM) and
• establishment of Agricultural Technology Information Centre.

Besides, Rain Water Harvesting, Integrated Farming System (IFS) Processing, Fish seed production, ICT enabled services, green agriculture and strengthening of soil health program shall also be supported. Further two important programmes approved include the Farmer FIRST at 52 centres and Attracting and Retaining Youth in Agriculture (ARYA) for 100 Districts.


The ARYA component is being implemented currently in 25 States through KVKs, one district from each State with technical partners from ICAR Institutes and Agricultural Universities for taking up entrepreneurial activities through skill development of rural youth leading to employment generation. During the year 2015-16, and 2016-17, youth numbering 1,100 and 4,400 respectively have been engaged through ARYA. It is, planned to enlarge this component to cover 100 districts by adding 75 more districts during 2017-20 period. The capacity development of farmers and vocational training to youth (about 14 lakh annually) will improve fruitful engagement in farming.


Convergence:

KVK may facilitate convergence and act as the nodal agency of several schemes of the Department of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Ministry of Food Processing Industries and other Departments and Ministries focused on agricultural and rural development through schemes like the Soil Health Card Scheme, the ParamparagatKrishiVikasYojana, RashtriyaKrishiVikasYojana, the Pradhan MantriKrishiSinchaiYojana; the National Gokul Mission; the National Livestock Mission and the Pradhan MantriKisan SAMPADA Yojana to address issues relating to micro irrigation, Integrated Nutrient Management (INM), Integrated Pest Management (IPM), Livestock Management, Processing and Value addition and use of mobile technology etc.


Background:

KVK Scheme:

The KVK scheme is functioning on 100% Central funding pattern under the ambit of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE). Till 31.3.2017, 669 KVKs have been established, which are functioning as district level Farm Science Centres, the mandate being, Technology Assessment and Demonstration for its Application and Capacity Development. The activities include on-farm testing of technologies and demonstrations, capacity development of farmers and extension personnel, functioning as a knowledge and resource centre of agricultural technologies, providing farm advisories using ICT and other media means on varied subjects of interest to farmers. In addition, KVKs produce quality technological products (seed, planting material, bio-agents, livestock) and make it available to farmers; organize frontline extension activities; identify and document selected farm innovations; and ensure convergence with ongoing schemes and programmes.


DKMA:

Directorate of Knowledge Management in Agriculture (DKMA) is mandated for dissemination and sharing of agricultural knowledge and information through value added information products in print, electronic and web mode; development of e-resources on agricultural knowledge; and information for global exposure, facilitation for strengthening e-connectivity among institutes of the ICAR, Agricultural Universities (AUs) and KVKs; and capacity building for agricultural knowledge management and communication.

Achievements under KVK:

In addition to the regular mandated activities, some of the remarkable achievements of KVKs during XII Plan Include, establishment of 97 Pulses Seed Hubs and organising 1,11,150 technology demonstrations on pulses leading to its record production during 2016-17; sensitization about climate change effect and implementing mitigation strategies by establishing 151 climate smart villages in different climate stressed regions; developing a successful model of custom hiring centre being adopted by State Governments; facilitating adoption of conservation agriculture specially raised bed planting of soybean (3 million hectare in Madhya Pradesh) and resource conservation technologies including Zero tillage, laser land levelling and Happy Seeder (Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar); creating a platform of convergence at KVK level for educating farmers about benefits of soil health and involving agricultural students in soil testing process; linking 13,500 villages with research system under MeraGaonMera Gaurav initiative; empowering 4400 youth for initiating economic enterprises under program titled "Attracting and Retaining Youth in Agriculture (ARYA)" and involving 20,000 farm family in participatory technology adaptation process under the Farmer FIRST Project.

100 KVKs have started skill development program and 154 KVKs were further added for skill development, in association with the Ministry of Skill Development. KVKs are also mainstreaming indigenous knowledge and practices including those available in tribal areas in the research programmes of the National Agricultural Research System (NARS). During the last Plan period, 5500 germplasm accessions with unique characters and potential to cope vulnerabilities were identified and registered with the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Authority, which would be utilised in developing new varieties.

KVKs are in the forefront for awareness creation through participatory approach. In the recently held "Sankalp Se Siddhi" program conducted by 564 KVKs as many as 49 Union Ministers, 284 M.P.s, 111 State Government Ministers, 300 MLAs and large number of Senior Government Officials participated along with Five lakh farmers.

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Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA)
28-March, 2018 20:00 IST
Cabinet approves continuation of Nutrient Based Subsidy and City Compost Scheme till 2019-20

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the proposal of the Department of Fertilizers for continuation of Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS)and City Compost Scheme beyond 12th Five Year plan till 2019-20. The total expenditure for continuation of both the schemes till 2019-20 will be Rs. 61,972 crore.

The expenditure for the scheme will be on actual basis since national roll out of DBT entails 100% payment of subsidy to fertilizer companies on sale of fertilizers to farmers at subsidized rates.

The subsidy on the P&K fertilizers and Market Development Assistant (MDA) on City Compost will be provided on the subsidy rates approved by the CCEA on annual basis.

The continuation of the Nutrient Based Subsidy Scheme and City Compost Scheme will ensure that adequate quantity of P&K is made available to the farmers at statutory controlled price.

Background:

Government is making available fertilizers, namely Urea and 21 grades of P&K fertilizers to farmers at subsidized prices through fertilizer manufacturers/importers. The subsidy on P&K fertilizers is being governed by NBS Scheme w.e.f 01.04.2010. Similarly, the MDA is being governed by City Compost Scheme w.e.f. 10.02.2016. Accordingly, these schemes have been extended beyond the 12th Five Year Plan till 2019-20.



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Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA)
28-March, 2018 19:57 IST
Cabinet approves fixation of Nutrient Based Subsidy rates for Phosphatic and Potassic (P&K) fertilizers for the year 2018-19

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the proposal of the Department of Fertilizers for fixation of Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS)rates for P&K Fertilizers for the year 2018-19. The approved rates for NBS are as follows:


Per Kg Subsidy rates (in Rs.)

Nitrogen (N)
Phosphorus (P)
Potash (K)
Sulphur (S)

18.901
15.216
11.124
2.722

The CCEA has also accorded ex-post facto approval on the proposal of the Department of Fertilizers subsidy paid on specific quantity of P&K fertilizers received in the districts during February & March months in different years since 2012-13 at the rates fixed for the next financial year which were lower than the rates approved by Cabinet/CCEA for that year.

The CCEA has authorized Department of Fertilizers for releasing subsidy, if required, as per the rates fixed for the financial year or of the next financial year whichever is lower on the specific category/quantity of P&K fertilizers received in districts during February and March months of the year in consultation with Department of Expenditure.

Financial Outlay:

The expected expenditure for release of subsidy on P&K Fertilizers during 2018-19 will be Rs. 23007.16 crore.

Background:

Government is making available fertilizers, namely Urea and 21 grades of P&K fertilizers to farmers at subsidized prices through fertilizer manufacturers/importers. The subsidy on P&K fertilizers is being governed by NBS Scheme w.e.f 01.04.2010. In accordance to its farmer friendly approach, the Government is committed to ensure the availability of P&K fertilizers to the farmers on affordable price. The Government has increased the subsidy expenditure by Rs. 1913.07 crore in comparison to Financial Year 2017-18 to save the farmers from the impact of increase in international prices of P&K fertilizers.



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[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare
8-March, 2018 17:59 IST
NAFED signs the debt settlement agreement with its eight lender banks

National Agricultural Cooperative Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED) signed the Debt Settlement Agreement with its eight lender banks at its Headquarter, New Delhi. The One Time Settlement with the lender banks has been made at Rs. 478 Crore with the cash payment of Rs. 220 Crore and assignment of sale rights of one of its prime properties located at Lawrence Road, New Delhi. In addition, the lenders are entitled to the assignment of auction right of the property of one of the defaulters of its tie-up business conducted in the years 2003-05. The Deputy General Manager, Central Bank of India signed the agreement on behalf of lender banks with Addl. Managing Director AMD, NAFED.

It may be recalled that the Federation had mired itself with a number of controversial businesses conducted with private parties when the borrowings made from banks were diverted to the private associates without proper collateral/securities. This has led to the default by NAFED to its bankers as the monies were not returned by the business associates. Such defaults had reached a level, when NAFED had no money to pay in the years 2011-12, forcing banks to declare NAFED’s account as NPA.

The organization serves the farmers throughout the country by implementing the Price Support Scheme of Govt. of India for Oilseeds, Pulses, Copra & Cotton. Though the fund requirement of the PSS was separately provided to the Organization through sovereign guarantee, but its problems with banks many times created hurdles in smooth withdrawals even against government guarantee, affecting payment to the farmers. It is hoped that with this settlement, the Price Support Scheme operations will be more smooth and effective. During the last three years, the Federation has made record procurement of Oilseeds & Pulses at MSP under PSS. Further, it has been the major agency having procured around 90% of the buffer target of Pulses.

The Govt. of India had constituted a Committee headed by Additional Secretary & Financial Advisor, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare comprising of senior officials from the Departments of Expenditure, Financial Services, Cooperation and Managing Director, NAFED, to work out the scheme for the financial revival including the One Time Settlement with the banks. The Committee had held various meetings with the lender banks and decided the OTS in January 2016.

Initially, the Govt. of India was to provide the financial assistance through the interest-free loan against NAFED’s properties, but later on, it was revised with the contribution by NAFED through cash payment and transfer of one of its prime properties. Govt. of India has undertaken to provide for the shortfall in the OTS amount if any.

This settlement has brought much relief to the Organization and its employees in particular and Cooperative Sector in general.

The Chairman and the senior Directors of NAFED were present at the signing of the Debt Settlement Agreement. The Chairman, NAFED, thanked Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Union Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Minister, Union Finance Minister, and Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare for the unstinted support and trust in NAFED. He especially thanked the Principal Secretaries to the Prime Minister for their initiatives in implementing the revival package of NAFED.

The Managing Director thanked the Govt. of India for its support to implement the One Time Settlement with the lender banks.

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[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Micro,Small & Medium Enterprises
28-March, 2018 17:12 IST
Rashtrapati Bhavan Harvests Its First Crop of Honey From KVIC’s Apiary

Honey being harvested at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday under Honey Mission of KVIC



The apiary of Rashtrapati Bhavan has started giving the yields; on Tuesday, from the gardens of the Presidential House around 186 kilograms of honey was extracted. Rashtrapati Bhavan has abundant flora and fauna, including lush trees of mangoes, Indian blackberries (jamun), neem and drumsticks. Chairman Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) Shri Vinai Kumar Saxena and Secretary to the President Sanjay Kothari were present during the first phase of extraction of honey.

Earlier, the frames of bee-boxes were removed in the presence of the dignitaries and honey was extracted and it was packed in bottles displaying the name of Rashtrapati Bhavan. The dignitaries also tasted the extracted honey as well as lemonade made from it.

KVIC had earlier conducted an apiculture training course for the gardeners of Rashtrapati Bhavan, in which they wereprovided tips to care and value of beekeeping in maintaining the flora and fauna. They were also apprised of the comprehensive scope and significance of apiculture and important considerations. KVIC also installed many bee-boxes in different phases in the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Shri Sanjay Kothari, Secretary to President informed that Rashtrapati Bhavan have plans to use this honey and related products as gift items for the visiting foreign dignitaries.

KVIC Chairman Mr Saxena said the beekeeping program would be covering the 16,000 flowers and plants in the Rashtrapati Bhavan premises which remained untapped till now. He added that with abundant trees, the premise is suitable for pollination which will massively increase the yield of the crops in the neighbouring areas. He also underlined the importance of apiary by saying honey has rich minerals and proteins along with best quality of antioxidants, there is a need that people should adopt cultivation of honey as their hobby in their farmhouses and bungalows. He saidthat he is feeling proud that Prime Minister’s ‘Sweet Revolution’ in Delhi and NCR is starting from the house of First Citizen of the Nation.

The apiary in the Rashtrapati Bhavan garden was set up under Honey Mission of KVIC.

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[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers
29-March, 2018 08:58 IST
Government revises Dealer’s Margin to Rs.354 per MT of Urea for both Private Agencies and Institutional Agencies w.e.f. 01st April, 2018 Step likely to benefit approx 23,000 dealers across the country by enhancing their financial viability post DBT implementation

Government of India has approved the revision of Dealer’s Margin to Rs.354/MT to be paid uniformly to all Dealers/Distributors for the sale of Urea. The revised rate will be made effective from 01st April, 2018. This dealer margin will be paid to the Dealers on the quantity sold through POS devices only.

Presently, the Private Agencies and Co-operatives are being paid Distribution/Dealer Margin for the sale of urea at the rates of Rs. 180/- per metric tonne for sales through private trade and Rs. 200/- per metric tonne for sales through institutional agencies in accordance with the notification dated 18th June, 1999. Consequent upon decision of the Government to implement Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) in fertilizer sector, demand for increasing the Distribution/Dealer Margin was being consistently raised by the dealers and the Fertilizer Companies to ensure financial viability of dealers post DBT implementation.

Around 23,000 Dealers/Distributors across the country are likely to be benefitted by the decision which would enhance their financial viability post DBT implementation. This step will entail an additional subsidy burden of Rs. 515.16 crore per annum on the Government.

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[Hindustani78]

The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu at an event to interact with the Agricultural Researchers on ‘Doubling Farm Income by 2022 in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana’, at ICAR - Indian Institute of Rice Research, in Hyderabad on March 31, 2018.

The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu lighting the lamp at an event to interact with the Agricultural Researchers on ‘Doubling Farm Income by 2022 in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana’, at ICAR - Indian Institute of Rice Research, in Hyderabad on March 31, 2018.

The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu interacting with the Agricultural Researchers on ‘Doubling Farm Income by 2022 in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana’, at ICAR - Indian Institute of Rice Research, in Hyderabad on March 31, 2018.

The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu addressing the gathering after interacting with the Agricultural Researchers on ‘Doubling Farm Income by 2022 in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana’, at ICAR - Indian Institute of Rice Research, in Hyderabad on March 31, 2018.

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Rural Development
03-April, 2018 13:28 IST
Deendayal Antodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission: Alleviating rural poverty & fostering diversified livelihoods through sustainable community institutions of poor

Mission Footprint

Deendayal Antodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) is a flagship programme of the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) that seeks to alleviate rural poverty through building sustainable community institutions of the poor. The centrally sponsored programme is implemented in partnership with the State governments. The Mission, launched in 2011, has seen a rapid expansion in the last three years. During FY 17-18, 820 additional blocks were covered under the “Intensive” strategy. Cumulatively, the Mission is being implemented in 4,459 blocks spread across 586 districts of 29 States and 5 Union Territories (UTs).

Community Institution Building

The financial year 2017-18 has seen more than 82 lakh households mobilized into 6.96 lakh Self Help Group (SHGs) across the country. Cumulatively, more than 4.75 crore women have been mobilized into more than 40 lakh SHGs. Further, the SHGs have been federated into 2.2 lakh village level federations and more than 19,000 cluster level federations. Cumulatively, these community institutions have been provided more than Rs. 4,444 crore as capitalization support.

Financial Inclusion

As part of its financial inclusion strategy, the Mission closely works with the Department of Financial Services (DFS), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Bank Associations (IBA) to provide bank credit to SHGs. As a result of the sustained efforts made on both the supply and the demand side the SHGs have been able to access substantial amount of bank credit. The loan outstanding to SHGs have increased from Rs. 22,238 crores in FY 2013-14 to 64589 crore as of Feb’18. Cumulatively, Rs. 1.55 lakh crore worth of bank credit has been leveraged by the SHGs during the last five years. The quality of the portfolio has also shown a marked improvement with NPA declining from 23% prior to the Mission to 2.4% in the current year. This is a result of sustained efforts made by the states to promote timely repayment of loans by the SHGs.

Financial Services in Remote Areas

The Mission has also achieved significant success in improving the last mile delivery of credit services through the agency of SHGs. About 1,518 SHG members have been deployed as Banking Correspondents Agents (BCAs) to provide last mile financial services including deposit, credit, remittance, disbursement of old age pensions and scholarships, payment of MGNREGA wages and enrollment under insurance and pension schemes. As of Feb,’18, 1.78 Lakh SHG members had availed banking services through the BCAs and over 8.9 lakh transactions amounting to Rs. 187.92 crores had been completed.

Interest Subvention

DAY-NRLM also provides Interest Subvention to women SHGs availing bank loans amounting to Rs.3.00 lakhs, to subsidize the cost of borrowing. The interest subvention effectively reduces the cost of borrowing to 7% per annum. In respect of 250 districts, an additional interest subvention of 3% is also allowed on timely repayment of loans, reducing the effective interest rate to 4% per annum. Since the inception of the scheme, a cumulative amount of Rs. 2,324 crores has been provided as interest subvention.


Mahila Kisan Shashaktikaran Pariyojana and Value Chain Initiatives


In order to promote agro-ecological practices that increase women farmers’ income and reduce their input costs and risks, the Mission has been implementing the Mahila Kisan Shashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP). As of March 2018, more than 33 lakh women farmers were being supported under this scheme. Further, about 8 lakh Mahila Kisans have been mobilized into 86,000 Producer Groups (PGs) which are federated into 126 Producer Companies (PCs). These value chain development initiatives have contributed significantly to the farmers’ income from agriculture, horticulture, dairying, fisheries and Non-Timber Forest Produce (NTFP) related activities. Small and marginal farmers producing Maize, Mango, Floriculture, Dairy, Goatery etc., have benefited significantly through the value chain interventions across different states. As of February 2018, more than 1.05 lakh SHG members have been covered under these interventions. In order to enhance agricultural productivity, the Mission promoted 4,150 Custom Hiring Centre/ Community Managed Tool Banks across multiple States. These hiring centers enable small and marginal famers to hire farm equipment and services such as soil testing, cold chain management etc., at nominal rates.

Community Livelihood Professionals

The community driven implementation strategy is the cornerstone of the Mission. This is borne out by the fact that more than 1.72 lakh community members have been trained and deployed to provide support to the community institutions in a variety of themes, such as bookkeeping, training and capacity building, financial services etc. This also includes more than 22,000 Community Livelihoods Resource Persons (CLRPs) such as Krishi Sakhi and Pashu Sakhi who provide 24 X 7 door step extension services to the small and marginal farmers including dairy farmers.

Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme & Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana

As part of its non-farm livelihoods strategy, DAY-NRLM is implementing Start-Up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) and Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana (AGEY). SVEP aims to support entrepreneurs in rural areas to set up local enterprises. Implemented in 17 States since 2016-17, about 16,600 enterprises have been supported under SVEP resulting in gainful employment for about 40,000 persons.


Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana (AGEY), was launched in August 2017 to provide safe, affordable and community monitored rural transport services to connect remote rural villages. As of March 2018, proposals from 17 States have been approved and 288 vehicles are operating.


Deendayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana

DAY-NRLM has another sub-scheme viz., Deendayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDUGKY). DDUGKY aims at building placement linked skills of the rual youth and place them in relatively higher wage employment sectors of the economy.


In FY 2017-18, as of Feb’18, 1.28 lakh rural youth have been trained and 69,320 have been placed. During the financial year 2017-18, 514 projects for training 5.93 lakh rural youth have also been sanctioned across the country till Feb 2018. Further, KAUSHAL PANJEE- mobile app for registration of prospective training candidates was also launched. As of 31st March, 2018, 7.56 lakh candidates have been registered in the Kaushal Panjee application.

The CIPET and Indo German Tool rooms have also been engaged as Project Implementing Agency of DDUGKY program for high end training with better placement & salary.

Rural Self Employment Training Institutes

The Mission, in partnership with 31 Banks and State Governments, is supporting Rural Self Employment Institutes (RSETIs) for skilling of rural youth to take up gainful self-employment. At present 586 RSETIs in the country are supported by the Mission. These RSETIs cover 566 Districts in 28 States and 4 UTs. In FY 2017-18, a total of 4.23 lakhs candidates have been trained and 3.34 lakhs candidates have been settled. Of those settled, 1.52 lakhs candidates have successfully got credit-linkage from banks for setting up their ventures, including 8911 candidates who have got loans under PM Mudra scheme. Out of total candidates trained in RSETIs, 60% are women.

In FY 2017-18, RSETI scheme has been aligned with Common Norms for Skill Development schemes and National Skill Qualification Framework. A total of 26 RSETIs have completed construction of their own buildings in FY 2017-18. Cumulatively, since FY 2014-15 till FY 2017-18 a total of 16.97 lakhs candidates have been trained and 12.51 lakhs candidates have been settled.

Independent Assessment of DAY-NRLM

Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA), was entrusted to carry out the independent assessment of design, strategy and impacts of DAY-NRLM. As part of the study, survey of nearly 4500 households spanning across 746 villages was conducted during January – March 2017.

The results indicate that the households in the treatment areas:

have a higher number of livestock assets as compared to control areas - On an average, each household in a Mission village had more than 2.34 productive livestock assets compared to a similar household in non-Mission village

1. show a higher proclivity to save in formal institutions;
2. have a higher loan size (about 67% more than the loan size in the control areas) and are more likely to borrow from formal financial sources; NRLM households also pay a lower rate of interest
3. have 22% higher (net) income than the households in the control areas, largely due to income from enterprises. On an average, each NRLM village had 11 enterprises more than the non-NRLM villages – suggesting livelihood diversification in NRLM villages.
4. participate more in PRIs - NRLM households participate 3 times more than their counterparts

Key Priorities for the Mission for FY 2018-19

Mission Expansion

The Mission seeks to expand to 750 additional blocks during FY 2018-19. The focus of expansion will be 102 aspirational districts, 50000 Mission Antyodaya GPs, clusters identified under Shayama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission and Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) GPs. It is proposed to mobilize 100 lakh households into 9 lakh Self Help Groups during the financial year.



Promotion of Farm Livelihoods

DAY-NRLM plans to include another 5 lakh women farmers under its farm livelihoods interventions like sustainable agriculture, livestock and NTFP based activities with major focus on North East states. Further, the Mission aims at supporting an additional 75000 SHG member households through farm-based value chain initiatives. It would also promote 15 large size farm-based producer enterprises to provide market linkages to women producers.

In addition, organic cultivation will be promoted in 1000 village clusters across States. Besides, to strengthen the extension services to small and marginal farmers on sustainable agriculture, improved livestock management and NTFP related activities an additional 3000 Community Resource Persons would be developed through intensive training. DAY-NRLM has also planned to promote another 1500 Custom Hiring Centre to enable the small and marginal farmer having timely access to agriculture implements and machinery.

Promotion of Non-Farm Livelihoods

It is also expected that Start Up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) will support an additional 25000 entrepreneurs during the year 2018-19. In addition, it is expected that by March 2019, about 1500 vehicles will be operating across 17 States under Aajeevika Gram Express Yojana (AGEY).


Setting up of Rural Haats

Development of haats has emerged as one of the most important strategies to market SHG products and agricultural produce. To facilitate marketing of rural produce, it is proposed to set up haats at village and block levels in convergence with MGNREGS and the District and State level using DAY-NRLM resources. The maintenance of the haats will be entrusted to a committee comprising of representatives of women SHGs, Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and local government officials.


It is proposed to set up 4567 rural haats across the country during FY 2018-19

Enabling rural poor’s access to formal sources of finance

The Mission will continue to promote access of SHGs to bank credit and other financial services. In FY 18-19, it is planned to link 22 lakh SHGs to bank credit for total loan amount of Rs. 42500 crores, taking the SHG Bank loan outstanding to Rs. 75000 crore.

The Mission will make efforts to expand Banking services to underserved regions through alternate channels in partnerships with various banks.

Deendayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana

More emphasis will be placed on long-term training for better placement outcomes. The Industries will be invited to partner as Project Implementing Agency (PIA) and/or own a training batch. It is proposed to have proactive engagement with Industry heads through workshops & conferences. It is envisaged that the increased engagement of Institutions of MSME & other prestigious Government Institutions for taking up DDUGKY program will lead to high end training with better salaries & District-wise survey for skilled manpower requirement.

The overall budgetary allocation has been increased from Rs 810 Crores in 2017-18 to Rs 1200 Crores in 2018-19

Rural Self Employment Training Institutes

An increased involvement of State Government has been envisaged in planning and implementation of skill development of rural poor through RSETIs. This would facilitate better mobilization (using Kaushal Panjee app) and identification of needy candidates in rural poor households. The mission is launching Standard Operating Procedures for greater transparency, efficiency and Quality assurance in the implementation of skill training in RSETIs. Mission is facilitating partnership of Industry Bodies with RSETIs to enable scaling up of rural entrepreneurs.

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[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers
03-April, 2018 16:59 IST
Around 1,76,900 students trained by CIPETduring last 3 years: Shri Rao Indertjit Singh

Minister of State (IC) for Planning and Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Shri Rao Indertjit Singh, while giving a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today on number of centres of the Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology (CIPET) in the country and number of students trained so far, informed that the total number of established centres of CIPET, including the centres under project stage, is 31.

The Minister informed that during last 3 years (2015-16 to 2017-18), around 1,76,900 students havebeen trained by CIPET through its long-term, short-term, vocational andtailor made skill development courses. This includes around 60,000 studentstrained under placement linked training programmes, out of which around82% have been gainfully employed in various plastics and allied industries.

Shri Singh said that setting up of CIPET centres is a dynamic process based on the demand of the State government, growth of the plastics industry, requisite infrastructure and available financial support from the Government of India and the State Governments. Under the Government of India’s scheme ‘Enhancing capabilities in Academics and Skill Development at CIPET’, setting up of 05 Centres of CIPET at Dharampur (Gujarat), Baddi (HP),Gwalior (MP), Vijayawada (AP) and Raipur (Chhattisgarh) were approved.

Further, during 2016-17, Government granted approval for setting up of 11 CIPETcentres at Medak (Telangana), Jaipur (Rajasthan), Srinagar (Jammu &Kashmir), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Chandrapur (Maharashtra), Dehradun(Uttarakhand), Bihar, Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), Agartala (Tripura), Mumbai(Maharashtra) and Bengaluru (Karnataka), the Minister added.



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[Hindustani78]

Department of Atomic Energy
04-April, 2018 13:52 IST
Crops and vegetables developed by BARC

By using radiation induced mutagenesis along with cross breeding, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has developed two mutants of rice {Trombay Raipur Rice-1(TRR-1), Trombay Konkan Kolam (TKKR-13)*} and one mutant of cowpea {Trombay Cowpea 901 (TC901)*} which are identified for release. BARC has also developed several mutants of groundnut, mustard, cowpea, blackgram, greengram, soybean, rice and wheat which are undergoing advance field trials in State Agricultural Universities. The major desirable traits in these crops include higher yield, seed size, improved agronomic and quality traits, early maturity and stress tolerance.

The BARC developed mutant crop varieties have high patronage from the farming community and are extensively grown in different states of the country. Popularization is done by linkages established with State Agricultural Universities (through kisan mela, frontline demonstrations / exhibitions and awareness programmes).

This information was provided by the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

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