Department of Agriculture, Co-operation and Farmers' Welfare

The Department of Agriculture, Co-operation and Farmers' Welfare (DAC&FW) is one of the three constituent department of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, the other two being Department of Agriculture Research and Education (DARE) and Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying. The Department is headed by Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare.[1]

Department of Agriculture, Co-operation and Farmers' Welfare
Agency overview
JurisdictionRepublic of India
Agency executive
Parent departmentMinistry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare
Websitehttp://agricoop.nic.in/

History

Agriculture sector is vital for Indian economy. As per the data of Census 2011, 54.6% of India's population was engaged in agriculture and it contributed 17.4% to India's Gross Value Added. The importance of agriculture sector led Government of India to launch numerous initiatives.[2] The Department was thus established for sustainable development of the agriculture sector. The DAC&FW is divided into 27 units and has five attached offices and 21 subordinate offices.[3] The pre-independence India had attached Department of Agriculture, Revenue and Commerce set up in 1871. In 1881 the Department of Revenue and Agriculture was separated from it, further in 1923 the Department of Education and Health were combined in it to form Department of Education, Health and Land. In 1945 three separate department were made out of this, which were Department of Education, Health and Agriculture, respectively. In 1947, the Department of Agriculture was rededicated to the Ministry of Agriculture.[4][5]

The present nomenclature of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare and Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers' Welfare is attributed to the two agencies vide cabinet resolution of 2015.[6]

Initiatives

Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana

The Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (National Agriculture Development Programme) was launched in 2007 and has been implemented across two Five Year Plan periods, namely the 11th and 12th Five Year Plans. The scheme incents the states to invest in the agriculture sector for holistic development of Agriculture and allied sector. In 2017, the Ministry of Agriculture extended the programme for three years up to 2019-20 which was to run as the centrally sponsored scheme of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana - Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied Sector Rejuvenation (RKVY-RAFTAAR). The centre and state's share in the funding is 60:40 for the General category states while for North-East and hilly areas it is 90:10. In case of Union Territory 100% funding is made by central government.[7][8]

In 2020, under the Innovation and Agri-Enterpreneurship development component of the revamped Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, the Government of India funded various agricultural startups.[9]

Pradhanmantri Fasal Bima Yojna
Main article: Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana
Former Minister for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, Shri Radha Mohan Singh interacting with the regional media through video conferencing on “Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna”, in New Delhi.

Launched in 2016, this scheme replaces erstwhile National Agriculture Insurance Scheme and Modified National Agriculture Insurance Scheme. It aims to reduce the burden of premium on farmers who take loans for their agricultural operations. The farmers are required to pay 2% premium for all Kharif crops and 1.5% and 5%, respectively, for Rabi and annual horticultural crops. The scheme is enforced under overall coordination of DAC&FW and the state governments. The government will pay a balanced premium and there is no upper limit on the government subsidies. Further, the use of cutting-edge technology like GPS is mandated for recording crop-cutting experiment. The insurance plans will be handled under a single company, namely the Agriculture Insurance company of India.[10][11]

Pradhanmantri Kisan Maan Dhan Yojna

The Pradhanmantri Kisan Maan Dhan Yojna is a pension scheme with Life Insurance Corporation of India as the pension fund manager. The beneficiary farmers will have to pay a monthly premium ranging from Rs.55 to Rs.200, depending upon their age of entry into the scheme and after reaching the age of 60 years they will be paid a monthly pension of Rs. 3000. The spouse is also eligible for pension after making a separate contribution under the scheme. Further, if the farmer dies after the retirement age then the spouse will receive 50% of the pension as family pension. If the farmer dies before completing the retirement age, the spouse is eligible to continue in the scheme after paying the remaining contribution till the retirement age of the deceased farmer. If the spouse does not wish to continue then the total corpus along with the interest will be paid to the spouse. If there is no spouse, the total contribution along with the premium shall be paid to the nominee. In case of death of both farmer and his spouse, the contribution made will be credited back to the pension fund.[12][13]

Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme
Main article: Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi

The Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme or PM Kisan is a type of basic income scheme under which all farmers (subject to some exclusion criteria) are provided an annual income of Rs. 6000 in three installments of Rs. 2000 each, directly into their bank account. Initially, farmers with less than 2 hectares of land were eligible for the scheme but with effect from 1 June 2019 all farmers are eligible for the benefits under the scheme. Affluent and high-income farmers are excluded from receiving the benefits of the scheme, these include the pensioners who receive a minimum sum of Rs.10,000 as pension and professionals such as doctors, engineers, lawyers and Chartered Accountants.[14][15]

Divisions

References
  1. "Department of Agriculture cooperation and farmers welfare". agricoop.nic. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  2. "Census of India 2011". Office of registrar general and census commissioner. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  3. "Organisation of Department of Agriculture and Cooperation". agricoop.nic.in. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  4. "Agriculture Ministry to be renamed as Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare". Business Standard. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  5. "Agriculture Ministry to be renamed as Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare". Financial Express. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  6. "Agriculture Ministry to be renamed as Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare". The Hindu. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  7. "Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana: Agriculture Ministry to Invest 36 Cr in 346 Agritech Startups". Krishi Jagran. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  8. "Government tweaks RKVY scheme to make farming remunerative". Indian Express. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  9. "Govt-to-spend-rs-11-85-cr-for-funding-112-agri-startups-this-year-tomar". Economic Times. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  10. "Pradhanmantri Fasal bima yojana". India.gov.in. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  11. "Fasal Bima Yojana: FM stresses on need to release premium subsidy in time". Business Standard. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  12. "PM Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana: Farmers can get 'free' Rs 3000 pension for life – Here's how". Financial Express. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  13. "PM launches 'Kisan Maan-dhan Yojana', pension scheme for traders and self-employed: Things to know". Times of India. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  14. "What is PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana?". Indian Express. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  15. "No support for govt employees, taxpayers under PM-KISAN scheme for farmers". Business Standard. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
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