Underlining the challenges posed by Covid-19 and Russia's war on Ukraine, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday urged people to make a “resolve” and reduce expenditure on imports and make the country self-reliant. Addressing 'PM Kisan Samman Sammelan-2022', held in the national capital, Modi released the 12th installment of cash support the government had launched before 2019 Lok Sabha polls. He also launched a scheme to brand all subsidised fertiliser under one brand — 'Bharat' — to eliminate product differentiation and confusion caused to farmers by multiple brands. Speaking after inaugurating the event, Modi said, “Today, there is another big challenge.. We all need to work in mission mode by understanding why I am giving so much emphasis on self-reliance and the role of agriculture and farmers in this. Today, the things on which we spend the most for imports are edible oil, fertiliser (and) crude oil. Every year, we spend lakhs of crores of rupees to import these items.” And in case there is a problem abroad, “it has its full effect on us, too”, he said. Modi said: “First we had the coronavirus, and we had to deal with the situation after facing difficulties and looking for ways. Even before Covid-19 was completely over, we had another problem on our hands — the [Russia-Ukraine] war broke out. And this is a region from where we used to import many items.. The impact of the war in such countries has also been greater.” Citing examples of rising fertiliser prices, Modi said, “Be it urea, DAP or other fertilisers, they are becoming expensive by the day in world market.” Due to this, the country is facing an economic burden, he added. Pointing out the rising subsidy bill, Modi said, “Today we buy urea from abroad at Rs 75-80 per kg. But farmers of our country should not be burdened…we deliver [urea] to farmers for Rs 5 or 6 [per kg].” In order to ensure that farmers get fertilisers at a low price, the government will spend Rs 2.5 lakh crore on the fertiliser subsidy bill, he said. “To reduce expenditure on imports, and to make the country self-reliant, we all have to resolve together to be free from importing edible items,” Modi said. The Prime Minister said he had made a similar appeal to raise production of pulses in 2015, and farmers responded by increasing production by 70 per cent. Earlier, Modi released the 12th instalment of the PM-Kisan scheme. As per a government statement, Rs 16,000 crore were transferred into bank accounts of beneficiaries. Under PM-Kisan, eligible families of farmers are provided Rs 6,000 annually in three installments of Rs 2,000 each. So far, eligible farmer families have received benefits worth more than Rs 2 lakh crore under PM-KISAN, the statement said. Modi also launched the ‘Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Urvarak Pariyojan- One Nation, One Fertiliser’, which is aimed at marketing fertilisers in the country under 'Bharat' brand name. He inaugurated 600 Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samruddhi Kendras (PMKSK) under the Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilisers. Under this, the Centre plans to develop more than 3.25 lakh fertiliser shops across the country as PMKSKs, where farmers can buy not only fertiliser and seeds but also implement soil testing and get useful information on farming techniques, the government stated. Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Chemical and Fertilisers Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, MoS (Agriculture) Shobha Karandlaje, MoS (Farmers Welfare) Kailash Choudhary, and MoS (Chemical and Fertilizers) Bhagwanth Khuba were among those present at the event. How to cut the import bill A lot of work is afoot on biofuel and ethanol to reduce foreign dependence on crude oil and gas. The Prime Minister believes cars should run on ethanol produced from farm produce; bio-CNG should be made from waste, and biogas produced from cow dung — work that is going on in the country. For self-sufficiency on the edible oil front, the government has started 'Mission Oil Palm'.
