Guwahati News Desk: Through a virtual event held on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an announcement regarding the release of the ninth instalment of income support for the farmers under the PM Kisan scheme.
Speaking via video conference at the event to release the installment, PM Modi interacted with beneficiaries of the scheme.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, a total of Rs 19,509.27 crore was transferred to bank accounts of 9.75 crore beneficiary farmers across 32 states and Union Territories, for the August-November, 2021 period.
Moreover, it was the ninth installment under PM-Kisan since the scheme began from December-March 2018-19.
According to the PM, Rs 1.60 lakh crore have been transferred in farmers’ bank accounts under the PM-Kisan so far.
As per the recent reports, Uttar Pradesh accounts for the highest number of farmers (2.23 crore farmers), who got their installment in the latest round. The state is followed by Maharashtra (1.12 crore farmers) and Madhya Pradesh (81.14 lakh farmers). In West Bengal, 26.86 lakh farmers have received the PM-Kisan installment.
Modi said, “We have seen that self-reliance is not enough only in wheat, rice, sugar, but self-reliance in pulses and [edible] oil is also very necessary. Whatever work we did in pulses, or in wheat and paddy in the past, now we have to take the same resolution for the production of edible oil also. To make our country self-reliance in the edible oil, we have to work fast.”
He added, “Today, when the country is remembering the Quit India Movement, on this historic day, this resolve fills us with new energy. Through the National Edible Oil Mission-Oil Palm mission, more than Rs. 11,000 crore will be invested in the edible oil ecosystem.”
Modi informed that the Centre will spend the Rs 1,000 crore for a new mission to ensure self-sufficiency in edible oil production at a time when India’s dependence on expensive imports has driven retail oil prices to new highs. Also, this financial outlay for the National Mission on Edible Oil-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) will be over a five-year period.
Furthermore, in the previous round, transferred on 14th May, a little over 7 lakh farmers in West Bengal had received their entitlements under the PM-Kisan. The state implemented the scheme from the current financial year.
Photo | Representative Image
