New Delhi, Oct 17, 2022, By Special Correspondent

New Delhi, Oct 17: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday released the 12th instalment amount of Rs. 16,000 crores under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) through Direct Benefit Transfer.

 

He inaugurated PM Kisan Samman Sammelan 2022 at Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi, where he also inaugurated 600 Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samruddhi Kendras (PMKSK) under the Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilisers.

 

Modi launched Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Urvarak Pariyojana - One Nation One Fertiliser and inaugurated the Agri Startup Conclave and Exhibition. 

 

During the event, the Prime Minister launched ‘Indian Edge’, an e-magazine on fertiliser. He took a walkthrough of Theme Pavilion of Startup Exhibition and inspected the products on display.

 

Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister started by acknowledging the presence of Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan and Jai Anusandhan in one premise, and said that we can see the live form of this mantra here today. 

 

He further elaborated that Kisan Sammelan is a means to make the lives of farmers easier, boost their capability and promote advanced agricultural techniques.

 

“More than 600 Pradan Mantri Sammridhi Kendra have been inaugurated today”, Modi said. He further elaborated that these Kendras are not merely sales centres for fertiliser but a mechanism for establishing a deep bond with the farmers of the country.

 

Regarding the fresh instalment of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), the Prime Minister said that the money reaches the accounts of the farmers directly without involving any middleman. 

 

“Another instalment of Rs 16,000 crore has also been released to crores of farmer families as PM Kisan Samman Nidhi,” Modi added and expressed happiness that this instalment is reaching the farmers just before Diwali. 

 

The Prime Minister also said that today, Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Urvarak Pariyojana - One Nation One Fertiliser has also been launched which is a scheme of ensuring affordable quality fertiliser of Bharat brand to the farmers.

 

Recalling the time before 2014 when farmers had to deal with the troubled agricultural sector and black marketing of urea, the Prime Minister exclaimed that the farmers had to bear the brunt of the baton to claim what was rightfully theirs. 

 

The PM interjected that the government tackled the black marketing of urea by coating it with 100% neem. “We worked hard to restart the country's 6 largest urea factories, which were closed for years”, he added.

 

Highlighting the steps that have immensely benefited the hardworking farmers, the Prime Minister remarked that India is rapidly moving towards self-sufficiency in liquid nano urea production.

 

Modi pointed out, “Nano Urea is a medium to produce more with less cost.” Stating its benefits, the Prime Minister said that a sack full of urea can now be replaced by a single bottle of nano urea. He further added that the transportation costs of urea would go down significantly.

 

The Prime Minister mentioned two new measures in the fertiliser reform story of India. 

 

Firstly, a campaign is being initiated today to develop more than 3.25 lakh fertiliser shops across the country as Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samruddhi Kendras.

 

These will be centres where farmers can buy not only fertilisers and seeds but also implement soil testing and avail useful information about farming techniques. 

 

Secondly, with One Nation, One Fertiliser, the farmer is going to get rid of all kinds of confusion about the quality of the fertiliser and its availability. 

 

“Now the urea sold in the country will be of the same name, same brand and same quality and this brand is Bharat! Now urea will be available only under ‘Bharat’ brand name in the entire country ”, Shri Modi remarked. He further added that it will result in reducing the cost of fertilisers and increase their availability.

 

Stressing the need of the hour to adopt technology-based modern farming techniques, the Prime Minister said that we have to create new systems in agriculture, adopt more scientific and technological methods with an open mind. With this thinking, we have emphasised boosting scientific methods in agriculture, and maximum use of technology. 

 

The Prime Minister informed that 22 crore soil health cards have been distributed so far and scientific efforts are on for providing best quality seeds. “During the last 7-8 year about 1700 new varieties of seeds that are suited to the changed climate conditions have been made available to the farmers,” he said.

 

The Prime Minister also highlighted the increasing curiosity about millets on the global level. 

 

He said, “Today, many hubs are being built in the country to increase the quality of the seeds of the traditional coarse grains- millets that we have here.” Throwing light on the efforts of the government to encourage India's coarse grains all over the world, the Prime Minister informed that the next year has been declared as the International Year of Coarse Cereals.

 

The Prime Minister cautioned against using indiscriminate amounts of water for irrigation and reiterated the government’s efforts in the direction of per drop more crop, micro irrigation and drip irrigation. More than 70 lakh hectare land has been brought under micro irrigation in the last 7-8 years, he informed.