Contemplating to make India a developed nation through agricultural growth by 2020
Our Correspondent
Tseminyu | April 5
Parliamentary Secretary for Housing Er. Levi Rengma today said by 2020 India is contemplating to make India a Developed Nation through agricultural growth.
Speaking at the awareness programme on Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (Crop Insurance Scheme) here at Tseminyu Town Hall, Er. Levi said that acknowledging the importance of farmers role in nation building at the same time the difficulties been faced by our farmers and the support they badly needed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a brand new crop insurance scheme on January 13 this year.
“This crop insurance scheme is called Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana which will be implemented in every state of India, in association with the respective state governments,” he said.
This scheme will be administered under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India, he said adding that the main motto of this scheme is to provide a more efficient insurance support to the farmers of the country and become a financial support to thousands of farmers.
He said government has decided to provide low premium insurance cover to the farmers so that they can sustain even if the yield is damaged.
With a total budget estimate for flooring this project is estimated to be approximately Rs. 17, 600 crore in the country, he said.
Stating that a major portion of Indian citizens, mostly in rural areas depends on agriculture and farming, he said “ So it is very necessary to strengthen their crop insurance scheme so as to prevent them incur heavy losses eve if the crops gets damaged due to natural calamities and other unavoidable circumstances.”
He said there are several factors that result in poor production of crops in some regions. Worst case scenario is that the entire crop gets damaged and the cultivators have to go through heavy losses. Most farmers take loans for buying agricultural seeds, fertilizers, irrigation facilities, pesticides and other agricultural machineries for cultivation of crops.
But sometimes unavoidable natural disasters like draught, floods, fire, pest attack, etc. strike and destroy the crop yield. Then farmers choose the path of suicide as they become unable to cope up with the burden of debt. He said there are alarming number of farmer suicide in India, which is a burning issue, not only in India, but also throughout the world.
“As per reports of Home Ministry, reports of near about 3000 farmers’ suicide have been registered in India, in the last three years itself. So the Centre has planned to bring back a new crop insurance scheme called Pradan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana in the country and rectify the loophole, present the existing one,” he said.
He said that it is a matter of concern to all that, the population of India is likely to be around 1.30 billion by 2020 and the country’s overall employment scenario is less likely to diminish significantly.
“Hence, producing food to satisfy hunger and to provide employment for buying food is going to be one of the biggest problems the country and is likely to face in near future. With opportunities for area expansion being almost exhausted, additional food output of 4-5 million tons per annum will have to come primarily through increased productivity,” the parliamentary secretary said.
Later, Er. Levi handed over Soil Health Card to the villagers and also released a publication entitled “Inventory of Agriculture Kohima District.” He also inaugurated exhibition of Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Tesophenyu.
Chairing the programme, Dr. V. Akashe Zhimomi, programme coordinator KVK, Tesophenyu, Kohima said the PMFBY will be implemented by June this year.
Vote of thanks was proposed by Khekhali Sema, SMS, Hort).
The programme was followed by technical session. The speakers include; Dr. Rebecca, VAS, SDVO, Tseminyu, Akhrie Yhome, APPO, Kohima and Yichan Yanthan, branch manager, Vijaya Bank Tseminyu.
