Central Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday that the government will pay Rs 2.37 lakh crore for the purchase of wheat and paddy at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) in 2022-23. Presenting the Union Budget for the year 2022-23, the Finance Minister announced to celebrate 2022-23 as the ‘International Year of Coarse Cereals’.
The announcement comes after months of farmers’ agitation demanding guaranteed MSP for farm produce along with repeal of three controversial agriculture reform laws brought in by the government last year.
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Presenting the budget on Tuesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that during the financial year 2022-23, the central government will adopt farmer drones, chemical-free organic farming, public-private partnerships to provide digital and hi-tech services to farmers across the country. Will promote
He said that under this such startups will be promoted, which will facilitate ‘Drone Shakti’ through various applications. The Finance Minister also mentioned the promotion of drones as a service.
The Finance Minister said that for this, necessary courses related to skilling will be started in selected ITIs of all the states. Earlier, the government has taken several initiatives to modernize drone technology. The announcement of drone power is also a part of that.
According to Sitharaman, under the inclusive development, the government will promote the use of ‘kisan drones’ for crop evaluation, digitization of land records and spraying pesticides. He said that the activities of these startups would include work like inter-sectoral support for farmer-producer organizations, providing farm machinery on rent in the interest of farmers, etc.
The government has created a digital sky platform for the registration and operation of drones, in which the entire process is digital. In this, users need to complete one time registration for their drones, pilots and owners. The government said, flexible drone regulations as well as airspace map, PLI scheme and single window of digital sky platform will help boost India’s drone manufacturing industry.
The Finance Minister said that the government will procure 1,208 lakh tonnes of wheat and paddy from 163 lakh farmers at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) during 2021-22. He said that Rs 2.37 lakh crore of MSP value would be deposited directly into their accounts.
He said that the year 2023 has been declared as the ‘International Year of Coarse Cereals’. He said that the government would support post-harvest management to increase domestic consumption of coarse grain products internationally.
Announcing the estimated procurement of wheat and paddy in the next financial year, the Finance Minister said that 1,208 lakh metric tonnes of wheat and paddy would be procured from about 163 lakh farmers. The Finance Minister said that emphasis will be laid on increasing the production of oilseeds in the next financial year. He also talked about promoting organic farming.
The Finance Minister also said that the government will make policies and necessary legislative changes to promote agro-forestry and private forestry. Apart from this, financial assistance will be provided to those farmers belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes who want to adopt agro-forestry, he said.
The Finance Minister said that in the first phase, the government will promote chemical-free natural farming across the country, focusing on farmers’ lands in five kilometer wide corridors along the banks of river Ganga. He said that a rational and comprehensive plan would be implemented to increase the domestic production of oilseeds to reduce the country’s dependence on the import of edible oils.
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