By: Lalit Garg
A new chapter of advanced agriculture is being written in India. Agriculture will be the base in building the foundation of a self-reliant India. India is ready to become an economic superpower of the world only through agriculture. India’s agriculture is becoming an exemplary enterprise at the global level; India’s agriculture is coming in the role of leader and guide. Many golden chapters of India’s rise, new rise and upliftment have been written in the nine years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rule, in these 9 years the steps have been taken for the overall development of the country and the welfare of even the person standing at the end of the society. , they are praiseworthy. Agriculture is the backbone of India’s economy. 70 percent of our rural population earns its livelihood from agriculture or other allied activities.
In such a situation, the government has made extensive efforts for advanced farming and welfare of farmers and transparency and continuity of these efforts is necessary. Indian agriculture has created unique new chapters under the leadership of Narendra Singh Tomar as the Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. The present government has given utmost importance to agriculture. Even the previous governments had got enough opportunities and resources, but the results remained disappointing. Agriculture has never been his priority area. Agriculture coming in the priority areas is a sign of a strong and powerful India.
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is the largest and most comprehensive research institute in the world. The progress made by the institute so far is commendable. Be it achieving production targets, increasing productivity or meeting the challenge of producing climate-resilient crops, our agricultural scientists have played a vital role in every field. After traditional farming in ancient times, along with the hard work of farmers, the research of scientists has proved to be a milestone in the progress of the field of agriculture. So far this journey has been satisfactory, but the government’s goal of solving and overcoming the challenges of agriculture in the Amrit Kaal by the year 2047 to bring the country into the category of a developed nation is commendable.
The results of Bhagirathi’s efforts made in the agriculture sector in the last 9 years are now automatically visible. While the budget for agriculture in the year 2013-14 had only Rs 21933 crore, the provision of Rs 1 lakh 25 thousand crore for agriculture in the budget of 2023-24 shows the far-reaching thinking of the government. The objective of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, launched in 2019, is to provide such financial support to every farmer in the form of 6 thousand rupees per year, so that not only the farmer can avoid getting trapped in the debt trap in adverse times, can also arrange for fertilizers and seeds on time.
India’s supremacy in agriculture sector is increasing across the world along with the injustice areas, along with it the expectations of the world are also increasing. The target is to build a new India by 2047. New India needs new science, research, new skills and new innovation because tomorrow belongs to New India. For this, the government of Narendra Modi is working on the basis of new mantras. Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas is Modi’s mantra, continuously moving towards the goal without leaving anyone behind. Former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri had given the slogan – Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee added science to it and Modi has added research to it. This mantra has become for India’s agriculture – Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan and Jai Anusandhan.
Significant progress has been made in terms of agricultural products; India has spent Rs 4 lakh crore. Exported more than 100,000, which is the highest ever. Due to the emphasis on natural farming and organic farming, such products are going to become even more popular in the world. Due to which exports will increase further in future, it is necessary that the quality of agricultural production should meet the global standards; special attention will have to be paid to it. The government’s emphasis is on natural farming. Prime Minister Shri Modi urges that we should do natural farming i.e. cow based farming. Let there be the work of waste to wealth. The quality and safety of our products are also high. Certainly natural farming is now one of India’s top priorities.
To promote natural farming, an area of 4.09 lakh hectares has been covered in 8 states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu under Indian Natural Farming System. The government is on the way to make natural farming a mass movement and under the National Natural Farming Mission, it is moving forward with the target of getting 1 crore farmers of the country to adopt natural farming. This mission of Modi will prove to be beneficial for soil, farmers, agriculture and common people, this will increase the prosperity of farmers and agriculture will be most important.
The year 2023 has been declared as the International Millet Year by the United Nations on the initiative of the Government of India to address the anomalies related to the food habits of the whole world and the health problems arising out of them. India’s leadership in the production, promotion and development of Srianna i.e. millet is a very important step. By making Srianna i.e. coarse grains a mass movement, where our food anomalies will improve, there will also be improvement in nutrition. Along with this, cultivation of Shree Anna will prove to be a boon for small and medium farmers as well. These crops grown in less water will prove to be very useful. It is Modi who has exposed the usefulness of coarse grains, due to which the attraction of people for coarse grains is increasing all over the world, just like India’s yoga and non-violence, India is moving forward to create a new identity in the world with coarse grains.
The overall and balanced development of the country is being taken forward. When it comes to overall development, the agriculture sector must be like the backbone of the country. Various problems like climate change, challenges of damage to standing crops of farmers due to natural outbreaks in complex situations, new technology of agriculture in New India, connecting agriculture and farmers with new research must be our priority. The income of farmers should also increase, prosperity should be seen in their homes and villages and agriculture sector should be enriched, only then India will be able to become a new India in real form. (The author is a journalist, columnist & can be reached at lalitgarg11@gmail.com)
