Govt. has undertaken several reforms to respond to agrarian crisis, PM Modi tells ANI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an exclusive interview with ANI, has said that his government has taken several reform measures in order to tackle the agrarian crisis.

On being asked how his government plans to stem the tide of farmer suicides and the agrarian distress prevalent in the country, the Prime Minister said, "The root causes of the problem find mention in your question itself. This is a very important issue and the Government is concerned about it. We have responded to the recent agrarian crisis with alacrity. We have undertaken several reforms."

"The Union Government has enhanced the relief norms for compensation against crop loss by 50 percent. The limit of minimum crop damage, for grant of compensation, has been reduced from 50percent to 33 percent. Norms have been relaxed to allow procurement of damaged food grains at MSP rates. The target of agricultural credit has been enhanced in our two consecutive budgets," he added.

Prime Minister Modi, while admitting that the agrarian crisis was endemic and is the result of decades of mismanagement, also listed some of the projects undertaken by the Centre to address these concerns.

"But as you said, the problem in agriculture is endemic. Nothing much was done for six long decades. But we have started long-term steps for the farm sector. To address the issue of access to irrigation for every farm, and efficient utilization of water, the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) has been started. Blue Revolution which aims to improve production and productivity in the fisheries sector is also an action point. We have launched the soil health card scheme," Prime Minister Modi said. The price stabilization fund with a corpus of Rs. 500 crores has also been set up for perishable commodities. Rashtriya Gokul Mission has been commenced with the objective of conserving and developing indigenous cattle breeds. We have made honest and sincere efforts for rural development. I have recently launched the Kisan Channel for giving timely information to farmers on inputs and markets. In the coming days, I would like to see more focused action on increasing Farm Productivity; Rural Industrialization; Skill Development in rural areas and rural trades, and faster Investments in Rural Infrastructure including cold chain," he added.

The NDA Government, which had had taken charge at the Centre on May 26 last year, completed one year in office on Tuesday. (ANI)

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