Govt plans to bring urea under NBS

The government is proposing to extend Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) to the nitrogenous fertilisers, including urea.

 "Now, we want to introduce it (NBS) for nitrogenous fertilisers," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said at the Economic Editors' conference here.

The proposal is to promote balanced use of soil nutrients and check rising subsidy bill.

The Centre has recently fixed subsidy on fertilisers (NBS) based on the nutrient content of phosphorus and potash in them to promote balanced use of fertilisers. The change in policy also saw the prices of phosphorus and potasic nutrients being decontrolled. The price of urea, however, continue to be controlled.

 A nitrogenous fertiliser, urea, is the most widely used soil nutrient in India but was left out of the purview of the NBS scheme.

The government had implemented the NBS scheme on decontrolled phosphatic and potassic fertilisers to ensure balanced use of fertilsiers and reduce the burgeoning subsidy bill.

Since the price of urea is also the lowest compared to other agri nutrients, farmers use it indiscriminately harming the soil fertility.