By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Even as his government is facing backlash over the three new farm laws, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that the Centre is doing everything to double the income of farmers.
He was commenting on completion of two years of the PM-Kisan scheme. In a series of tweets, Modi said the government has ushered in a historic increase in the Minimum Support Price (MSP).
“Over the last seven years, the Government of India has taken many initiatives for transforming agriculture. From better irrigation to more technology, more credit and markets to proper crop insurance, focus on soil health to eliminating middlemen, the efforts are all-encompassing,” he tweeted.
Praising the “passion and tenacity of our farmers”, Modi said, “On this day, two years ago the PM-Kisan scheme was launched with an aim to ensure a life of dignity as well as prosperity for our hardworking farmers, who work day and night to keep our nation fed. The tenacity and passion of our farmers is inspiring.”
The PM-Kisan scheme was introduced to hike the income of the farmers by providing monetary support to farmers’ families and also helping them financially to take care of expenses related to agriculture and allied activities.
An amount of Rs 6,000 per year is transferred in three installments directly into the accounts of the farmers under the scheme, which was launched on on February 24, 2019 by Modi at Gorakhpur, UP.
The scheme initially provided income support to all small and marginal farmers who have up to 2 hectares of land. Later, it was expanded to cover all farmer families irrespective of the size of their land holdings.
