Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.The government is not in favour of running MGNREGA, the rural employment guarantee scheme, forever since it is meant for the poor and the government wants to eradicate poverty from the country, Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Tomar also said that the government is trying to make Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna – the Centre’s crop insurance scheme – simpler and more useful for farmers.
“We have rejigged PM Fasal Beema Yojana. We are now trying to make it simpler and more useful. There are 8.95 lakh beneficiaries today. Before 2014, the figure was 6 lakh,” he said.
Tomar was replying to queries raised by members during the discussion on Demand for Grants under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare and the Rural Development Ministry.
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Tomar said, more funds were allocated under Fasal Bima Yojana than it was before 2014 under the Congress-led UPA government. “It increased from Rs 26 crore to Rs 74 crore,” he said.
Stating that the Modi government has vastly improved the MGNREGA scheme, making it transparent and effective, Tomar said, “I am not in favour of continuing with MNREGA forever, because it is for the poor and the government wants to eradicate poverty from India. It is working in this direction.”
He said overall budgetary allocation for MGNREGA has increased from Rs 55,000 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 60,000 crore in the ongoing fiscal.
Tomar was noncommittal on suggestions by some members on using MGNREGA for agricultural labour but said the scheme would be used for water conservation.
The minister took exception to the Opposition calling PM-KISAN scheme, under which Rs 6,000 is given to farmers annually, as inadequate. “Some people have called it Oont ke muh mein jeera (paltry allocation). But before Narendra Modi, did anyone try doing even that? At least the farmer is getting something,” he said.
On doubling of farmers’ income, Tomar said a big target and a road map has to be made and the result cannot be visible in a day. Over 10 crore soil health cards have already been allotted, and work on allotting 9.82 crore cards in the second phase is underway, he said. The government, he said, is working on zero budget farming.
The Centre also took a decision on neem-coated urea, he said and emphasised that farmers are getting sufficient urea.
He maintained that big queues for getting urea are not seen any longer. Black marketeering in urea has also come to an end, he said.
Stating that the project was on the UPA government’s table, too, Tomar said, “The middlemen did not let Manmohan Singh implement it. Prime Minister Modi has a 56-inch chest, so he rolled it out.”
