MPs’ panel to review Centre’s flagship agriculture schemes

NEW DELHI: A parliamentary standing committee of MPs will assess Centre’s flagship schemes announced three years ago to double farmers’ income by 2022.
It will also review the impact of Prime Minister’s prestigious Crop Insurance programme on ground. The first meeting to decide on how to go about the assessment will be held on October 8 as decided by the standing committee on Monday.

The meeting was attended by over 21 MPs. The committee has also come up with 30 urgent issues that farmers are facing.

These include production and availability of certified seeds in the country, GM crops, agricultural marketing, development of road connectivity in agricultural areas, implementation of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Yojna, functioning of the agricultural credit system in the country, performance and evaluation of National horticultural board, role of farmers in formulation and implementation of schemes, research activities in food processing, ensuring quality of milk and consumer grievance redressal mechanism in the dairy sector and a comparative analysis of dairy cooperatives in the country.

According to those present in the meeting, other important issues such as impact of industrial effluents on agriculture and international treaties affecting farming in India were raised by CPM MP KK Ragesh.

Another MP Badaruddoza Khan insisted on the need to study the decline of cooperative farming that was giving away to corporate farming. Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Mandal, it is learnt, talked about the need to look at depleting water resources in the country which was affecting farmers adversely.

One of the MPs who attended the meeting that was presided over by BJP MP Hukum Dev Narayan Yadav, said claims that insurance companies received worth around Rs 19,000 crore from farmers across the country for Kharif 2017 have to be tested on the ground.