Govt Spending Rs 6.5 Lakh Crore Annually on Agriculture, Farmers’ Welfare: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that his government spends INR 6.5 crore annually on the agriculture sector and farmers’ welfare, and called on cooperatives to help make the country self-reliant in cooking oils.

Speaking at an event marking the International Day of Cooperatives, the Prime Minister also highlighted the work his government has done, such as the Prime Minister Kisan Scheme, MSP operations, and fertilizer subsidies since he came to power in 2014.

In the past nine years, Modi said, more than Rs 15,000 crore have been served to farmers by buying their produce on MSP. He said the government spent INR 10 crore to subsidize fertilizers last year.

In other words, the chief minister said that the government spends about Rs 6.5 lakh crore annually on agriculture and farmers.

“This means that every year the government provides an average of Rs 50,000 to each farmer in one form or another.

This means that in the BJP government, farmers are guaranteed to receive INR 50,000 every year in various ways. This is Modi’s guarantee,” he said, adding that he was only stating what his government had done and not just talking about “promises.”

In the last four years, the PM said, 2.5 crore rupees have been sent directly to farmers’ bank accounts under the PM KISAN scheme.

“You can guess how big this is from the fact that the total agricultural budget for the five years before 2014 was less than Rs 90,000 crore,” Modi said.

He was speaking at the 17th Indian Cooperative Congress.

During the two-day event, stakeholders will discuss various trends in the co-operative movement, present best practices being adopted, deliberate challenges being faced and outline future policy actions for the growth of the co-operative movement in India.

(This story was not edited by the News18 staff and was published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)