Reference is invited to a Newspaper article with the heading ‘Agriculture Ministry surrendered one lakh crore of its budget in last 5 years’. The article highlights the aspect of surrender of funds without comments of Ministry and has not highlighted the achievements of the Government. It is hereby reiterated that Government has taken a large number of measures to ensure welfare of farmers. The Budget allocation for Department of Agriculture & Cooperation including DARE has increased manifold, it was Rs.27,662.67 crore in 2013-14 and went upto Rs.1,25,035.79 crore in 2023-24.
There are three major Central Sector Schemes, which form nearly 80% – 85% of the budget of Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare. PM-KISAN was launched in 2019 and more than Rs.2.81 lakh crore has been released so far to more than 11 crore farmers as on 30.11.2023 through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) was launched in 2016 and in past 7 years of implementation 49.44 crore farmers applications enrolled and over 14.06 crore (provisional) farmers have received claims of over Rs.1,46,664 crore.
