(TH)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said his government was spending ₹6.5 lakh crore per year for the agriculture sector and farmers’ welfare, and there could be no guarantee bigger than this. He also sought cooperative sector support in creating world’s biggest grain storage system and making the country self-reliant in edible oils.
Inaugurating the 17th Indian Cooperative Congress, Modi highlighted the work done by the government since 2014 and said that the agriculture budget of the UPA government’s last five years (2009-14) was less tha ₹90,000 crore as against ₹2.5 lakh crore already disbursed to farmers during four years (of NDA government between 2019 and 2023)) under only one scheme — PM Kisan.
In the last nine years, Modi said more than ₹15 lakh crore had been given to farmers by procuring their produce on minimum support price (MSP), while another ₹10 lakh crore has been spent on fertilizer subsidy. “The government is making sure that every farmer in the country receives around ₹50,000 every year in some way or the other,” Modi said.
