Modi Govt Announces Major Reforms in Railways and Agriculture, Strengthens Krishi Sampada Yojana
New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu)- The Union Cabinet has approved the Central Sector Scheme 'Grant-in-Aid to National Cooperative Development Corporation' with an outlay of Rs 2000 crore for a period of 4 years from 2025-26 to 2028-29. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnav has informed about this decision of the Cabinet.
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that the fund of NCDC-National Cooperative Development Corporation has been increased. 94 percent of the farmers are associated with it. The Cabinet has given financial assistance of 2000 crores. He said that the Cabinet has approved the Central Sector Scheme 'Grant Assistance to National Cooperative Development Corporation' with an expenditure of Rs 2000 crore for 2025-26 to 2028-29. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that the financial outlay of Rs 6520 crore has been increased in the PM Krishi Sampada Yojana. An additional assistance of 1000 crore has been announced for lab and infrastructure facilities. Under this, food testing lab and irradiation unit will be set up. The Union Minister said that food processing has doubled in the last 11 years.
The government said the move will benefit 2.9 crore members of 13,288 cooperative societies; labour and women-led cooperatives across the country in various sectors such as dairy, livestock, fisheries, sugar, textiles, food processing, warehousing and cold storage.
Giving information about the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY), the Union Minister said that the Cabinet has approved a total outlay of Rs 6520 crore including an additional outlay of Rs 1920 crore for this scheme running during 2021-22 to 2025-26. In this, as per the budget announcement, Rs 1000 crore has been approved for setting up 50 multi-product food irradiation units under the component scheme of PMKSY - Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure (ICCVAI) and 100 NABL accredited Food Testing Laboratories (FTL) under the component scheme - Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure (FSQAI). Along with this, Rs 920 crore has been approved for projects under various component schemes of PMKSY.
Along with this, the cabinet approved four multitracking projects covering 13 districts of the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand. This will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by about 574 km.