Government merges 36 schemes to float farm programme
The scheme was announced in the Budget earlier this year. Talking to reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the Centre has merged 36 schemes of 11 Ministries into the PMDDKY, which will have an outlay of ₹24,000 crore per year for six years beginning 2025-26. 'This scheme will help 1.7 crore farmers,' he said.
Also read | Union Budget 2025: Schemes announced for farmers, middle class and students
A release said the scheme also aims to augment post-harvest storage at the panchayat and block levels, improve irrigation facilities, and facilitate the availability of long-term and short-term credit. 'The scheme will be implemented through the convergence of 36 existing schemes across 11 Departments, other State schemes, and local partnerships with the private sector... 100 districts will be identified based on three key indicators of low productivity, low cropping intensity, and less credit disbursement. The number of districts in each State/Union Territory will be based on the share of Net Cropped Area and operational holdings. However, a minimum of one district will be selected from each State,' the release added.
The PMDDKY is modelled on the 'Aspirational District Programme' of the Centre. Mr. Vaishnaw said the 'first-of-its-kind' scheme will focus exclusively on agriculture and allied sectors.
Committees for effective planning, implementation and monitoring of the scheme will be formed at district, State and national levels. 'A District Agriculture and Allied Activities Plan will be finalised by the District Dhan Dhaanya Samiti, which will also have progressive farmers as members. The district's plans will be aligned to the national goals of crop diversification, conservation of water and soil health, and self-sufficiency in agriculture and allied sectors, as well as expansion of natural and organic farming,' the release said, adding that the scheme's progress will be monitored on a monthly basis.
Also read | Agricultural agenda must move from food security to farmer prosperity: Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar
The Government hoped that the scheme would result in higher productivity, value addition in agriculture and allied sectors, and local livelihood creation, and help increase domestic production and achieve self-reliance.
Abhishek Jain, Fellow and Director, Green Economy and Impact Innovations, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) said the scheme is a significant step toward boosting agricultural performance in India's under-performing districts by emphasising not only productivity but also resilience through crop diversification, allied activities, value addition, soil health, and water‐use efficiency.
'However, district selection could be improved by using annual net agricultural income per hectare,' he said, adding that the scheme should not focus on low-credit disbursement as an indicator for district selection. 'A resilient agriculture system should not be dependent on credit. Instead, as we expand and diversify income streams for farmers via allied and value-added activities, and as we mainstream more sustainable agriculture practices, the reliance on external credit to fund cultivation cycles should come down, while still enhancing incomes for the farmers,' he said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
41 minutes ago
- Time of India
Govt preparing to give 10% horizontal reservation to Agniveers in govt jobs: Uttarakhand CM
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Saturday said the state government is preparing to give 10 per cent horizontal reservation to Agniveers in government jobs after they complete four years of military service. He made the announcement at a programme held here to honour former soldiers and family members of martyrs on the occasion of Kargil Vijay Diwas . Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category Public Policy Digital Marketing PGDM Finance Technology healthcare Data Science Cybersecurity MCA MBA Management Operations Management Product Management Project Management Design Thinking others CXO Artificial Intelligence Others Degree Leadership Data Analytics Healthcare Data Science Skills you'll gain: Economics for Public Policy Making Quantitative Techniques Public & Project Finance Law, Health & Urban Development Policy Duration: 12 Months IIM Kozhikode Professional Certificate Programme in Public Policy Management Starts on Mar 3, 2024 Get Details Skills you'll gain: Duration: 12 Months IIM Calcutta Executive Programme in Public Policy and Management Starts on undefined Get Details Dhami said a proposal to give 10 per cent horizontal reservation to Agniveers after they complete four years of service under the Agnipath scheme is being prepared and will soon be brought before the state cabinet for its approval. "We are preparing to give 10 per cent horizontal reservation to Agniveers in the police, transport, forest and other government departments. A proposal in this regard will soon be brought for cabinet approval. Agniveers who complete four years of service under the Agnipath scheme will get its benefits," he said. The horizontal reservation is a type of reservation that is provided across all categories, namely the General Category, as well as vertical reservation categories - Scheduled Tribes (ST), Scheduled Castes (SC) and Other Backward Classes (OBC). Live Events The Centre introduced the Agnipath scheme in 2022 for short-term induction of personnel in the Army, Navy and Air Force with an aim to bring down the age profile of the three services. The scheme provides for recruiting Agniveers youngsters between the age group of 17-and-a-half and 21 for a block period of four years with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for another 15 years. Several states and central forces have already taken initiative to provide reservation to Agniveers Dhami said the state government is supportive towards soldiers and their families, and spoke of many steps taken in recent years with their welfare in mind. The state government has increased the ex-gratia amount given to the families of the martyrs from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 50 lakh. The lumpsum and annual amount given to the soldiers decorated with gallantry awards has also been increased, he said. The ex-gratia amount of Param Vir Chakra awardees has now been increased from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore, the chief minister said. It has been decided to provide employment training in drone operation to ex-servicemen's wives and daughters as Drone Didis, Dhami said. The government is also providing the facility of free travel to Badrinath Dham to ex-servicemen, wives of soldiers and Veer Naris who have completed the age of 60 years, he said. The construction work of the grand Shaurya Sthal (Military Dham) in Dehradun in memory of the martyrs is in its final stage, he said. This Military Dham contains water from 28 rivers across the state and soil brought from the homes of martyred soldiers, he said. So far, 37 dependents of martyrs have been provided government jobs. Under this scheme, the period for applying for a government job has also been increased from two years to five years. Apart from free travel facility in Uttarakhand Roadways buses to gallantry award winners, serving and former military personnel are also being given a 25 per cent discount in stamp duty on purchase of permanent property worth up to Rs 25 lakh.
Hindustan Times
42 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
4 Maoists killed in encounter in Bijapur, arms recovered: Chhattisgarh police
Raipur: Four alleged Maoists were killed in an encounter with security forces in the dense forests of Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Saturday, police said. Police said the operation is still in progress. (Representational image) Officials said that arms and ammunition have been recovered and the encounter is still in progress. Bijapur superintendent of police (SP), Jitendra Yadav, said police have recovered four bodies and their identities are yet to be ascertained. The exchange of fire began in the evening after security personnel launched a search operation based on intelligence inputs about Maoist presence in the south-western region of the district. 'Intermittent firing between the two sides has continued since then,' said Yadav. Security forces have recovered a cache of arms and ammunition from the encounter site, including INSAS and SLR rifles, other weapons, explosive materials, and items of daily use, the SP added. Officials said sensitive details such as the exact location of the encounter and the number of personnel involved have been withheld for now to ensure the safety of forces engaged in the operation. A detailed report will be released once the operation concludes, he added. Maoists have suffered continued setbacks across the region since 2024. In that year alone, 217 Maoists were killed in various encounters. With Saturday's operation, the total number of Maoist casualties has risen to approximately 464 till date in 2025. Union home minister Amit Shah had earlier said that Maoism would be completely eradicated from Chhattisgarh next year, and that the central and state governments were working in full coordination to end the decades-old insurgency through both security action and development.
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
‘Centre trying to diminish Keeladi excavation report'
'The Union government was trying to diminish the Keeladi excavation report only to prove its point that India's cultural history started from Gangetic plains,' said writer Aadhavan Dheetchanya of Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers Artists Association. The forum observed a fast outside Keeladi museum here on Saturday. Mr. Dheetchanya said that by exaggerating the archaeological evidence from the Gangetic plains, it devalued the very ancient Tamil culture. 'By doing that, they try to prove that the India's history started from Aryans' entry into India,' he added. Further, he said that the Keeladi excavation report, which emphasized that civilization started about 3,500 years ago, if released, would completely shatter its 'false' narrative. 'As the study has found that Keeladi was a trade centre and the objects' age found there went back to 2,500 years, it was evident that the presence of humans and their creation of civilization was much older than that,' Mr. Dheetchanya stated. As the government, its role was only to publish the report and not to criticise or comment on the report. 'It is the role of researchers, scientists, historians and others to opine on the findings,' he noted. While the government questions the report based on several scientific studies, archaeologist Amarnath Ramakrishna, who penned the report after excavating remnants from 102 pits, was clear that he could not resubmit it. By not adhering to its demand, Mr. Ramakrishna had made it clear that he could not play as per its wish, Mr. Dheetchanya said. Moreover, the fight for proving the history of Tamils was not based on some rhetoric evidence, but with the support of proven facts and evidence, he said.
