Noting that the government is fully committed to furthering the welfare of farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday announced the continuation of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and the restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme and extension of NBS subsidy from January 1 to December 31, 2025. Appreciated the decision of the Union Cabinet to extend the one-time special package on diammonium phosphate beyond Rs.
“Our government is fully committed to advancing the welfare of farmers. We are proud of all our farmer sisters and brothers who work hard to feed our country by 2025,” PM Modi said in a post on Instagram. The first Cabinet is dedicated to enhancing the prosperity of our farmers. I am happy that important decisions have been taken in this regard.
“The Cabinet’s decision to extend the one-time special package on di-ammonium phosphate will help ensure DAP at affordable prices to our farmers,” he said.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the extension of one-time special package on Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) beyond the NBS subsidy from January 1 this year till further orders to ensure continuous availability of DAP at affordable prices to farmers.
The estimated budgetary requirement will be around Rs 3,850 crore. The Union Cabinet also approved the continuation of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme till 2025-26 with an overall outlay of Rs 69,515.71 crore from 2021-22 to 2025-26.
This decision will help farmers across the country in risk coverage of crops from non-preventable natural disasters by 2025-26.
Additionally, to use technology on a large scale to enhance transparency in the implementation of the scheme and claim calculation and settlement, the Union Cabinet also approved the creation of Fund for Innovation and Technology (FIAT) with an amount of Rs 824.77 crore. Is.
The fund will be used to finance technological initiatives such as YES-TECH, WINDS, as well as research and development studies under the scheme.
The Yield Estimation System Using Technology (YES-TECH) uses remote sensing technology for yield estimation, with a minimum 30 percent weightage given to technology-based yield estimates. Currently nine major states are implementing it i.e. Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Other states are also being included in it rapidly. With widespread implementation of YES-TECH, crop harvesting experiments and related issues will gradually come to an end.
Claim calculation and settlement has been done for 2023-24 under YES-TECH. Madhya Pradesh has adopted 100 percent technology based yield estimation.
Weather Information and Network Data System (WINDS) envisages installation of Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) at Block level and Automatic Rain Gauges (ARGS) at Panchayat level. Under WINDS, a 5-fold increase in the current network density is envisaged to develop hyper local weather data. Under this initiative, only the data rental cost is paid by the central and state governments. Nine major states are in the process of implementing WINDS (Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Puducherry, Assam, Odisha, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan are in progress), while other states have also expressed their commitment.
WINDS could not be implemented by the States during 2023-24 (the first year as per EFC) due to various background preparation and planning works required before the tender. Accordingly, the Union Cabinet has approved 2024-25 as the first year of implementation of WINDS as compared to 2023-24 earlier to benefit State Governments with higher central fund sharing in the ratio of 90:10.
The government said that all efforts are being made and will be made further to benefit all the farmers of the North-Eastern states on priority basis.
However, since the scheme is voluntary and due to low gross cropped area in the North Eastern States, flexibility is given to avoid surrender of funds and reallocation to other development projects and schemes requiring funds.
Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, while appreciating the decisions of the Union Cabinet, said that the development of agriculture and welfare of farmers is the top priority of the Central Government.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami praised the decisions of the Union Cabinet and said that the decisions of the Cabinet will provide financial security to farmers in case of crop loss due to natural disasters. He said that this would ensure cheap and continuous availability of fertilizers, which would increase agricultural production.
