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Table of Contents

NOTES

Giving a major boost to the pro-farmer initiatives of the government, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved a new Umbrella Scheme ‘Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan’ (PM-AASHA) on September 12, 2018.

BASICS

The government has already increased the MSP (minimum support price) of kharif crops by following the principle of 1.5 times the cost of production. However there are many challenges

NOTES

According to a survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) in the 70th round in 2013, only 6% of farmers are able to sell their produce at MSP.
According to a 2016 NITI Ayog evaluation report 79% farmers responded with ‘no’ when asked if they were satisfied with the MSP regime. Some of the reasons for their dissatisfaction were delay in payments, lack of infrastructure at procurement centres, distance to procurement centres and delayed announcement of MSP rates.

PROBLEMS WITH MSP

MSP is presently (September 2018) is declared for 23 crops. Shanta Kumar report on FCI-restructuring, Buffer stock, PDS & Food security & Direct Benefit Transfer

THE NEW SCHEME

1. The scheme is aimed at ensuring lucrative price to the farmers for their produce as announced in the Union Budget 2018.
2. The new Umbrella Scheme – 3 components

COMPONENTS

Price Support Scheme (PSS) – Under the scheme, the physical procurement of pulses, oilseeds, and ‘copra’ (kernel of coconut) will be done by Central Nodal Agencies with the proactive role of the state governments.
Further, in addition to NAFED, the Food Cooperation of India (FCI) will take up PSS operations in states and districts.
The procurement expenditure and losses due to procurement will be borne by the Union Government as per norms.

NAFED

It stands for National Agriculture Cooperative Marketing Federation of India.
It is an apex organization of the marketing cooperatives for agriculture production.
It comes under the Ministry of Agriculture and It was founded in October 1958 with its Head Quarter in New Delhi. It has four regional offices at Delhi , Mumbai , Chennai and Kolkata with 28 zonal offices in different states.

FCI

- It stands for Food Corporation of India.
- It was set up on 14th Jan,1965. Its HQ is now in New Delhi ,but previously it was at Chennai. COMPONENTS Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS) or Bhavantar BhugtanYojana
- PDPS is proposed to cover all oilseeds for which minimum support price (MSP) is notified. (oilseed – तिलहन)

In this, direct payment of the difference between the MSP and the selling/modal price will be made to pre-registered farmers selling their produce in the notified market yard through a transparent auction process. All payments will be done directly into the registered bank account of the farmer.
The support to the farmers for PDPS will be given as per norms.

PILOT OF PRIVATE PROCUREMENT & STOCKIST SCHEME (PPPS)

The cabinet also decided that the participation of private sector in procurement operation needs to be piloted on the basis of the learnings the ambit of private participation in procurement operations.
Therefore, it was decided that for oilseeds, the states will have an option to roll out Private Procurement Stockist Scheme (PPSS) on pilot basis in selected districts and Agricultural Produce Market Committee’s (APMC) of district involving the participation of private stockiest.
The pilot district and selected APMC(s) will cover one or more crop of oilseeds for which MSP is notified.

EXPENSES CONCERNING THE SCHEME:

The cabinet has decided to give additional government guarantee of Rs 16,550 crore, making it Rs 45,550 crore in total
In addition to this, budget provision for procurement operations has also been increased and Rs 15,053 crore has been sanctioned for the implementation of PMAASHA.

CONCLUSION

The NITI Ayog recommended that steps be taken to improve “facilities at procurement centres, such as drying yards, weighing bridges, etc. should be provided to the farmers. More godowns should be set up and maintained properly for better storage and reduction of wastage. The procurement centres should be in the village itself to avoid transportation costs”.
However, the government’s announcements on Wednesday to ensure that farmers get the benefit of the MSP have done little to reinforce the procurement infrastructure which was a key recommendation of the Centre’s NITI Aayog.