Kisan Diwas or National Farmers Day

                               Kisan Diwas or National Farmers Day

 

Why in News?

On 23^rd December, 13 farmers known for innovative farming were awarded on the occasion of ‘Kisan Diwas’ or ‘National Farmers Day’.

The Kisan Diwas is observed across the country to celebrate the birth anniversary of Former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh.

 

 

 

Key Facts About Chaudhary Charan Singh

1. He was born in 1902 at Noorpur in Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh and was the Prime Minister of India from 28^th July 1979 to 14^th January 1980.
2. He was a great proponent of rural and agricultural development and made continuous efforts for keeping agriculture at the centre of planning for India.
3. He took a leading part in formulation and finalisation of the ‘Debt Redemption Bill of 1939’, in order to give relief to the peasantry from moneylenders.
4. He was instrumental in bringing the ‘Land Holding Act of 1960’ which was aimed at lowering the ceiling on land holdings to make it uniform throughout the Uttar Pradesh.
5. He left Congress in 1967 and formed his independent party known as the ‘Bharatiya Lok Dal’.
6. He served twice as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. He became Prime Minister of India in 1979.
7. He got the nickname ‘Champion of India’s Peasants’ for his work towards upliftment of farmers and development of agriculture throughout the country.
8. He was the author of several books and pamphlets, including ‘Abolition of Zamindari’, ‘Co-operative Farming X-rayed’, ‘India’s Poverty and its Solution’, ‘Peasant Proprietorship or Land to the Workers’ and ‘Prevention of Division of Holdings Below a Certain Minimum’.

 

Some Recent Initiatives taken by the Government for Farmers are:

 

1. 1. PM Kisan (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi)

1.It was launched in Nov 2018 to supplement the financial needs of land holding farmers.

2. Under this scheme, financial assistance of Rs 6000/- per year in 3 equal instalments is transferred into the bank accounts of farmers across the country through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode.
3. Initially, the scheme was meant for Small and Marginal Farmers (SMFs) having landholding upto 2 hectares but later the scope of the scheme was extended to cover all landholding farmers.
4. It’s a Central Sector Scheme with 100% funding from the Government of India.
5. It is being implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
6. Objectives of the scheme are:
   1. To supplement the financial needs of the small and marginal farmers in procuring various inputs to ensure proper crop health and high yields.
   2. To protect them from falling in the debts of moneylenders for meeting such expenses and ensure their continuance in the farming activities.
7. PM-KISAN Mobile App: It was developed and designed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) in collaboration with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

 

b) SVAMITVA Scheme

1. SVAMITVA stands for ‘Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas’.
2. It’s a center sector scheme which was launched nationally on the occasion of National Panchayati Raj Day on 24^th April 2021.
3. ‘Ministry of Panchayati Raj’ (MoPR) is the nodal ministry of the scheme and ‘Survey of India’ is the technology implementation agency under the scheme.
4. Aim is to provide the ‘record of property rights’ to all village households and to issue them the property cards.
5. The demarcation in rural areas will be done using Drone Surveying Technology.
6. It will cover almost 6.62 Lakh villages in the entire country during the period 2021-2025.
7. Property Cards are known by different names in different states of India like ‘Title deed’ in Haryana, ‘Rural Property Ownership Records (RPOR)’ in Karnataka, ‘Adhikar Abhilekh’ in Madhya Pradesh, ‘Sannad’ in Maharashtra, ‘Svamitva Abhilekh’ in Uttarakhand, ‘Gharauni’ in Uttar Pradesh.

 

 

c) Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY):

1. It was launched in 2016 and is being implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
2. It replaced the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS).
3. Aim of the scheme is to provide a comprehensive(overall) insurance cover against the failure of the crops and thus helping in stabilizing the income of the farmers.
4. It covers all food crops, oilseed crops and horticultural crops (fruits and vegetables) for which past yield data is available.
5. Premium is fixed at 2% of the insured amount which is to be paid by the farmers for all Kharif crops (like paddy, maize, bajra etc) and 1.5% for all rabi crops (like wheat, mustard etc).
6. In the case of horticultural crops, the premium is fixed at 5%.

 

1. 1. 4. National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture: It aims at promoting sustainable agriculture practices best suitable to a specific regions.

 

1. 1. 5. Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana: It has 3 main components namely Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP), Har Khet ko Pani (HKKP), and watershed development components.

 

1. 1. 6. Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) Programme: Under this programme, fertilizers are provided to the farmers at the subsidized rates based on the nutrients (N, P, K & S) contained in these fertilizers.

 

1. 1. 7. Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana: Launched in 2015 with the aim to promote traditional agriculture practices.

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