Manifest Pedagogy
As agriculture occupies popular national discourse especially at time of the elections, all issues such as msp, loan waivers, basic income for farmers, doubling farmers income and agricultural distress will be focus area for the exam. All schemes related to agriculture would be prominent and need to be revised both from prelims and mains perspectives.
In news
Announcement of PM-Kisan scheme in Union Budget-2019
Placing it in the syllabus
Government Budgeting and Agriculture
Static dimensions
- Agricultural distress
- MSP and its failure
- Universal Basic Income (link)
Current dimensions
- PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme.
- PM-AASHA
- Land Record Modernisation
- Loan Waivers vs PM-KISAN
Content
Agricultural distress
Due to flip-flop in agriculture policy and ad hoc nature, agriculture sector is not being treated at par with manufacturing and service sector the agricultural policy changed according to the need such as the case in sugar cane, this left to farm loan waiver as the only solution.
Failure of MSP (PM-AASHA)
In light the failure of MSP the Government has taken giant leap towards boosting pro-farmer initiatives.
- PM-Aasha is is aimed towards ensuring remunerative prices to farmers for their produce.
- This scheme is expected to complement the increase in MSP which will be translated to farmer’s income by way of robust procurement mechanism in coordination with the states.
- It will help to protect farmers’ income which is expected to go long way towards the welfare of farmers.
- The three components outlined under the scheme is thus aimed towards enhancing agricultural productivity, reducing cost of cultivation which will enable boosting and securing farmer’s income in the long run. They are;
- Price Support Scheme (PSS)
- Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS)
- Pilot of Private Procurement & Stockist Scheme (PPPS)
Land record modernisation
The Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP)—the erstwhile National Land Records Modernisation Programme—seeks to improve the quality of land records in the country, make them more accessible, and move towards government-guaranteed titles.
A land title is a document that helps determine land ownership. This will be achieved through complete computerization of the property registration process and digitization of all land records.
About PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme (PM Kisan Yojana)
- PM KISAN Yojana is a central sector scheme with 100% funding from the Government of India.
Under this scheme Poor and marginalised farmers of India are set to get Rs 2000 in every four months(Rs.6000/- per year). The money will be given in three instalments of Rs 2000 each in the bank accounts of the eligible farmers.
- Definition of a family for the scheme is husband, wife and minor children.
- State Government and UT Administration will identify and upload their name on Pmkisan.nic.in, the farmer families which are eligible for support as per Pm Kisan yojana guidelines.
Objectives :
- To augment the income of the Small and Marginal Farmers (SMFs).
- To supplement the financial needs of the SMFs in procuring various inputs to ensure proper crop health and appropriate yields, commensurate with the anticipated farm income at the end of the each crop cycle.
- To protect the farmers from falling in the clutches of moneylenders for meeting such expenses and ensure their continuance in the farming activities.
Exclusion categories
- All Institutional Landholders is not eligible for Pm Kisan Yojana. Farmers who were Former and present holders of constitutional posts. Former and present State Ministers, Ministers, Members of LokSabha/ RajyaSabha/ State Legislative Assemblies/ State Legislative Councils, Mayors of Municipal Corporations, Chairpersons of District Panchayats along with retired officers and employees of Central/ State Government Ministries /Offices/Departments are also not eligible for Pm Kisan Yojana.
- Chartered Accountants, Doctors, Lawyers, and Architects, Engineers registered with Professional bodies and carrying out profession by undertaking practices.
- Central or State PSEs and Attached offices /Autonomous Institutions under Government and regular employees of the Local Bodies (Excluding Multi Tasking Staff /Class IV/Group D employees).
- All superannuated/retired pensioners whose monthly pension is Rs.10,000/-or more (Excluding Multi Tasking Staff / Class IV/Group D employees) of above category & All Persons who paid Income Tax in last assessment year.
Loan waivers vs PM Kisan yojana
- The PM-KISAN will address discontent among small farmers as the sum will meet the input cost for cultivation and, most importantly, will be delinked from crop prices. But the loan waiver would be more burdensome on the economy as compared to PM kisan.
- A majority of farmers still do not take loan from institutional sources and are thus not entitled to any benefit from loan waiving and those who follow discipline of repaying loan on time feel cheated.
- The cash received under PM-Kisan, if invested in agriculture for higher returns, will be a support to the credit and insurance systems and promote agricultural growth in the country.
- There have been no dearth of schemes, but the policies for elevating the rural economy always have had a lag and effectiveness in implementation is an area of concern. The current move seems to address this lag by directly monetising farmers.
- The biggest advantage of this scheme over loan waiver is that it will also benefit tenant farmers to the same extent as the land owning farm households.
Criticisms
- Elections are round the corner and, obviously, farm loan waiver remains the hot topic addressing the symptoms around farm distress, but not curing the disease. And PM- Kisan may also have the motive of elections too. Hence long term stability of the farm sector is the need of the hour.
- Many farmers are of the view that six thousand per year is not big amount if they consider the input cost of the agriculture.
- What if a marginal or a small farmer’s family member gets a remunerative job? Going by this logic all farmers regardless of landholdings deserve an income transfer.
- The scheme needs to be refined and tinkered to include more deserving sections that are currently left out.
