Relax norms for Kisan Samman Nidhi for Telangana farmers: Niranjan Reddy

Hyderabad: The State government on Tuesday sought the Centre to relax the existing norms for implementation of Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme in the State and make it applicable to even small and marginal farmers. Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy appealed to the Union government to encourage the cultivation of oil seeds and pulses, apart from […]

Hyderabad: The State government on Tuesday sought the Centre to relax the existing norms for implementation of Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme in the State and make it applicable to even small and marginal farmers. Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy appealed to the Union government to encourage the cultivation of oil seeds and pulses, apart from considering providing financial support to agriculture-affiliated industries under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund.

Niranjan Reddy was participating in the national conference of Agriculture Ministers of various States organised by the Union government, to discuss agriculture infrastructure fund, Pradhan Mantri Samman Nidhi, Kisan Samman Credit Cards, Digital Agriculture, oil seeds cultivation, Oil Palm and other issues through virtual mode. The conference was chaired by Union Minister for Industries and Commerce Piyush Goyal. Union Ministers of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhary and Shobha Karandlaje also attended.

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Speaking on the occasion, Niranjan Reddy said small and marginal farmers comprise about 91.48 per cent of the farming community in Telangana where about 1.5 crore acre was cultivable land. However, only 35.19 lakh farmers became eligible for Kisan Samman Nidhi due to the Central government’s rules. He emphasised the need to relax the norms to enable more farmers to avail the scheme. He also pointed out that only Rs 703.81 crore were released to Telangana State in eighth installment of the scheme. The Telangana government is spending Rs 15,000 crore to provide financial support to farmers under Rythu Bandhu farm support scheme in addition to various other initiatives in the best interests of farmers.

The Minister urged the Centre to support the State government’s efforts to encourage oil palm as an alternative to paddy and promote its cultivation in about 20 lakh acres in the State. He wanted the Union government to revert the import tax on the oil palm sprouts and nursery plants from 30 per cent to the previous five per cent. Similarly, the Centre was requested to supply the mini kits to encourage the cultivation of oil seeds in one lakh acres and also remove the restrictions on the purchase of pulses at minimum support price.

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