Modi promises 30 mn 'Lakhpati Didis', higher MSP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday pledged to make 30 million ‘Lakhpati Didis’, up from the 10 million rural women who have already achieved the feat.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday released the BJP’s manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The manifesto says the ruling party will continue the quarterly financial disbursements under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM KISAN) yojana.

It also promised to increase the Minimum Support Price (MSP) from time to time but stopped short of providing any legal backing to it as is being demanded by a section of farmers.

All major opposition parties, including the Congress, in their manifestos, have promised to provide a legal guarantee of MSP.

According to data collated till a few months ago, the Central government has disbursed almost Rs 282,000 crore through PM KISAN to farmers since 2018-19.

The manifesto claimed that the Central government has improved the livelihood of almost 40 million poor people through the PM-Awas Yojana.

The manifesto also talks of launching a Krishi Infrastructure Mission for integrated planning and coordinated implementation of agri-infrastructure projects like storage facilities, irrigation, grading and sorting units, cold storage facilities, and food processing, among others.

A special Krishi Satellite will also be launched for farm-related activities like crop forecasting, pesticide application, irrigation, soil health, and weather forecasting, it said.

The ruling party said it would support the farmers to make India self-sufficient in pulses like tur, urad, masoor, moong and chana, and edible oils such as mustard, soybean, til and groundnut.

Strengthening the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana through more technological interventions to ensure speedy and more accurate assessment, faster payouts and quicker grievance resolution were other commitments made by the party.

For the allied sectors, the BJP said the network of dairy cooperatives would be expanded over the next five years through fodder banks, milk testing laboratories, bulk milk coolers, and milk processing units. It also promised to bring a new national policy to make the cooperative movement strong, efficient, transparent, technically rich and vibrant at the grassroots level.

The party vowed to double the custom hiring centres for mechanisation from the existing 25,000 with a specific objective of making agricultural machinery and equipment at stable prices.

The Krishi Vigyan Kendras and Kisan Samriddhi Kendras will be further expanded.

For the fisheries sector, the BJP promised to extend the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana by expanding the insurance coverage through additional technological interventions to ensure speedy and more accurate assessment, faster payouts and quicker grievance resolution.

The insurance coverage for fishermen under the group accidental insurance scheme has been raised to Rs 500,000 from the earlier Rs 200,000 and the Central government subsidises much of the farmers’ share of the premium.

The manifesto also promised to promote seaweed and pearl farming and use satellite imagery to protect fishermen.