Category: Ranker Webinars

1.1 Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana

Objective

● To achieve convergence of investments in irrigation at the field level.
● To enhance the recharge of aquifers and introduce sustainable water conservation practices.
● To explore the feasibility of reusing treated municipal wastewater for peri-urban agriculture.
● To attract greater private investments in irrigation.
● To promote extension activities relating to water harvesting, water management and crop alignment for farmers and grass root level field
functionaries.

Salient features

● Decentralized State level planning and projectized execution’ structure, in order to allow States to draw up a District Irrigation Plan (DIP) and a State Irrigation Plan (SIP). These plans need to be prepared in order to access
the PMKSY fund.
● It will be supervised and monitored by the Inter-Ministerial National Steering Committee (NSC) under PM with Union Ministers of all concerned Ministries. A National Executive Committee (NEC) is to be constituted under the Chairmanship of the Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog to oversee programme implementation.
● PMKSY has been formulated amalgamation ongoing schemes viz. Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP); Integrated
Watershed Management Programme (IWMP); and On-Farm Water Management (OFWM) component of National Mission on Sustainable
Agriculture (NMSA).
● Water budgeting is done for all sectors namely, household, agriculture and industries.
● Investments will happen at farm level. So, farmers know what is happening and can provide valuable feedback.
● Recently, the Long Term Irrigation Fund has been instituted under PMKSY in NABARD for funding and fast-tracking the implementation
of incomplete major and medium irrigation projects.

1.2 RASHTRIYA KRISHI VIKAS YOJANA – RAFTAAR (RKVY-RAFTAAR)

Objective

● To make farming a remunerative economic activity through strengthening the farmer’s efforts, risk mitigation and promoting
agribusiness entrepreneurship.
● To attend national priorities through several sub-schemes.
● To empower youth through skill development, innovation and agri entrepreneurship based business models.

Salient features 

● RKVY, initiated in 2007 as an umbrella scheme for holistic development of agriculture and allied sectors, has been recently revamped as
RKVY-RAFTAAR – Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied sector Rejuvenation for 2017-19 and 2019-20.
● It provided states with considerable flexibility and autonomy for planning and executing Programs.
● The decentralised planning for agriculture and allied sectors is initiated by the states through District Agriculture Plan and State Agriculture
Plan based on agro-climatic conditions, availability of appropriate technology and natural priorities.
● It will incentivize states to increase allocations for agriculture and allied sectors and help in creation of post-harvest infrastructure and
promotion of private investment in the farm sector across the country.
● Fund Allocation – 60:40 grants between Centre
and States in states and 90:10 for North Eastern States and Himalayan States through following streams – o Infrastructure & Assets and Production Growth o RKVY-RAFTAAR special sub-schemes of National Priorities o Innovation
and agri-entrepreneur development.

Sub-schemes include

● Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India
● Crop Diversification Program – It is being implemented in the Original Green Revolution States of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh to diversify area from water-guzzling crop
● Reclamation of Problem Soil ● Foot & Mouth Disease – Control Program
(FMD-CP)
● Saffron Mission
● Accelerated Fodder Development Programme (AFDP)

1.3 NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY MISSION

Objective

● Increasing production of rice, wheat, pulses, coarse cereals and commercial crops through area expansion and productivity enhancement
in a sustainable manner.
● Restore soil fertility and productivity at the individual farm level.
● Enhancing farm level economy.

Salient features

● It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme which was launched in 2007.
● The approach of the scheme is to bridge the yield gap in respect of these crops through dissemination of improved technologies and farm management practices while focusing on districts which have high potential but relatively low level of productivity at present.
● Major Components – National Food Security Mission – Rice, National Food Security Mission – Wheat, National Food Security Mission – Pulses,
National Food Security Mission – Coarse Cereals and National Food Security Mission –Commercial Crops.

1.4 National Horticulture Mission

1. To provide holistic growth of the horticulture sector through an area based regionally differentiated strategies, to enhance horticulture production, improve nutritional security and income support to farm households
2. To establish convergence and synergy among multiple ongoing and planned programmes for horticulture development
3. To promote, develop and disseminate technologies, through a seamless blend of traditional wisdom and modern scientific knowledge
4. To create opportunities for employment generation for skilled and unskilled persons, especially unemployed youth.

Scheme:

A National Horticulture Mission was launched in 2005-06 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme to promote holistic growth of the horticulture sector
through an area based regionally differentiated strategies. The scheme has been subsumed as a part of Mission for Integration Development of
Horticulture (MIDH) during 2014-15.

What is the National Horticulture Mission?

The National Horticulture Mission is a government mission to support horticultural production in the country. NHM is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme in which the Government of India contributes 85%, and 15% is met by the State Governments.

Factual Information:

● India ranks second in the global production of fruits and vegetables next to China.
● Started in 2005-06.

1.5 SOIL HEALTH CARD SCHEME

Objective

● To issue soil health cards every 3 years, to all farmers of the country, so as to provide a basis to address nutrient deficiencies in fertilization practices.
● To strengthen the functioning of Soil Testing Laboratories (STLs) through capacity building, the involvement of agriculture students and
effective linkage with Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) / State Agricultural Universities (SAUs).
● To diagnose soil fertility related constraints with standardized procedures for sampling uniformly across states.
● To build capacities of district and state level staff and of progressive farmers for promotion of nutrient management practices.

Salient features

● It is a centrally sponsored scheme launched by the Government of India in 2015.
● It is being implemented through the Department of Agriculture of all the State and Union Territory Governments.
● Assistance is provided to the State Government to issue Soil Health Card and also develop a database to improve service delivery.
● Soil Health Card issued to farmers carry crop-wise recommendations of nutrients and fertilizers required for the individual farms.
● The experts will analyze the strength and weaknesses (micronutrients deficiency) of the soil collected from farms and suggest measures
to deal with it.
● It will contain the status of his soil with respect to 12 parameters, namely N,P,K (Macronutrients); S (Secondary nutrient); Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn, Bo (Micro – nutrients); and pH, EC, OC (Physical parameters).

1.6 PM FASAL BIMA YOJANA

Objective

● To provide insurance coverage and financial support to the farmers in the event of natural calamities, pests & diseases.
● To stabilise the income of farmers to ensure
their continuance in farming. ● To encourage farmers to adopt innovative and
modern agricultural practices.
● To ensure flow of credit to the agriculture sector.
Intended beneficiary.
● All farmers including sharecroppers and tenant farmers growing notified crops in a notified area during the season who have insurable interest in the crop are eligible.

Salient features

● It replaced all other existing insurance schemes except the Restructured Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme (uses weather parameters as
proxy for crop yield in compensating the cultivators for deemed crop loses) .
● A uniform premium of only 2% to be paid by farmers for all Kharif crops and 1.5% for all Rabi crops.
● In case of annual commercial and horticultural crops, the premium to be paid by farmers will be only 5%.
● There is no upper limit on Government subsidy so farmers will get claim against full sum insured without any reduction.
● The difference between the premium paid by farmers and the actuarial premium charged was paid by the Centre and state government in
the ratio of 50:50.
● It is compulsory for loanee farmers availing crop loans for notified crops in notified areas and voluntary for non-loanee farmers.
● Yield Losses: due to non-preventable risks, such as Natural Fire and Lightning, Storm, Hailstorm, Cyclone, Typhoon, Tempest, Hurricane, Tornado.
Risks due to Flood, Inundation and Landslide, Drought, Dry spells, Pests/ Diseases also will be covered.
● Post-harvest losses are also covered.
● Mandatory use of technology: Smart phones, drones etc., will be used to capture and upload data of crop cutting to reduce the delays in claim payment to farmers. Remote sensing will be used to reduce the number of crop cutting
experiments.
● The Scheme shall be implemented on an ‘Area Approach basis’. Defined Area (i.e., unit area of insurance) is Village or above. It can be a
Geo-Fenced/Geo-mapped region having homogenous Risk Profile for the notified crop.
● Presently, 5 public sector insurers (Agriculture
Insurance Company of India, United India Insurance Company etc.) and 13 private insurance companies are empanelled for implementation of the scheme.
● Recently, states have been allowed to set up their own insurance companies for implementing the scheme.

1.7 National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture

National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) has been formulated for enhancing agricultural productivity especially in rainfed areas focusing on integrated farming, water use efficiency, soil health management and
synergizing resource conservation.

Objectives

● To make agriculture more productive, sustainable, remunerative and climate resilient by promoting location specific Integrated/Composite Farming Systems
● To conserve natural resources through appropriate soil and moisture conservation measures
● To adopt comprehensive soil health management practices based on soil fertility maps, soil test based application of macro & micro nutrients, judicious use of fertilizers etc.
● To optimize utilization of water resources through efficient water management to expand coverage for achieving ‘more crop per drop’.
● To develop capacity of farmers & stakeholders, in conjunction with other on going missions e.g. National Mission on Agriculture Extension &
Technology, National Food Security Mission, National Initiative for Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) etc., in the domain of
climate change adaptation and mitigation measures.
● To pilot models in select blocks for improving  productivity of rainfed farming by mainstreaming rainfed technologies refined through NICRA and by leveraging resources  from other schemes/Missions like Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP), RKVY etc.;
and
● To establish an effective inter and intra Departmental/Ministerial coordination for accomplishing key deliverables of National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture under the aegis of National Action Plan on Climate
Change (NAPCC).

1.8 PARAMPARAGAT KRISHI VIKAS YOJANA

Objective

● Promotion of commercial organic production through certified organic farming.
● pesticide residue free produce and improved health of consumer
● Raise farmer’s income and create potential markets for traders.
● Motivate the farmers for natural resource mobilization for input production.
● Increase domestic production and certification of organic produce by involving farmers.

Intended beneficiary
● Farmers doing organic farming
● Farmers from NE India such as Sikkim
● Food processing industries
● Organic foods – export industry

Salient features
● “Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana” is an elaborated component of Soil Health Management (SHM) under National Mission of Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA).
● Cluster Approach: Fifty or more farmers form a cluster having 50 acre land to take organic farming. Each farmer will be provided Rs. 20000
per acre in three years for seed to harvesting crops and to transport them to market.
● Government plans to form around 10 thousand clusters in three years and cover an area of 5 Lakh hectares under organic farming.

Components –
● Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) certification through cluster approach – mobilization of farmers, form clusters, identification of land resources and training on organic farming and PGS Certification and
quality control.
● Adoption of organic village for manure management and biological nitrogen harvesting through cluster approach –action plan for Organic Farming, Integrated Manure Management, Packing, Labelling and Branding
of organic products of cluster.

1.9 NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL MARKET
(NAM)

Objective

● To promote genuine price discovery
● Increases farmers’ options for sale and access to markets
● Liberal licensing of traders / buyers and commission agents. One license for a trader valid across all markets in the State
● Harmonisation of quality standards of agricultural produce
● Single point levy of market fees, i.e on the first wholesale purchase from the farmer.
● Provision of Soil Testing Laboratories in/ or near the selected mandi to facilitate visiting farmers to access this facility in the mandi itself

Intended beneficiary 

● 585 regulated wholesale markets in states/union territories (UTs).
● Farmers
● Local traders
● Bulk buyers, processors
● Farm produce exporters
● Overall economy of the nation

Salient features
● NAM is a pan-India electronic trading portal which seeks to network the existing APMCs and other market yards to create a unified national
market for agricultural commodities.
● Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) has been selected as the lead agency to implement it.
● Central government will provide the software free of cost to the states and in addition, a grant of up to Rs. 30 lakhs per mandi or market or
private mandis will be given for related equipment and infrastructure requirements.
● New Features added to the scheme such as E-NAM Mobile App, BHIM Payment facility, MIS dashboard for better analysis and insights,
grievance redressal mechanism for Mandi Secretaries and integration with Farmer Database to ease the registration and identification process will further strengthen e-NAM.
● Fund Allocation – The Scheme is being funded through AgriTech Infrastructure Fund (AITF).

1.10 KRISHI VIGYAN KENDRAS

Objective
● To be a frontline extension in agriculture, and to serve as a single window mechanism for addressing the technology needs of farmers
● To demonstrate location specific technologies and build capacity of farmers
● To serve as links between research and extension and also with farmers
Intended beneficiary
● Rural youth, farm women and Farmers (skill development training)
Salient features
● Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)has created a network of 645 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) in the country and 106 more
KVKs will be established.
● Directorate of Extension in State Agriculture Universities also helps KVKs in its activities.
● KVKs lay strong emphasis on skill development training of rural youth, farm women and farmers
● Provide latest technological inputs like seeds,planting materials and bio-products.
● Advise farmers on timely crop/enterprise related recommendations, including climate resilient technologies.
● Diagnose and solve problems emerging from district agro-ecosystems and lead in adoption of innovations.

1.11 MERA GAON-MERA GAURAV

Objective

● To promote direct interface of scientists withthe farmers and hasten the land to lab process.
● To imbibe a sense of ownership among the agricultural scientists
● To provide farmers with required information, knowledge and advisories on regular basis by adopting villages.

Intended beneficiary

● Scientists with ground level experience
● Farmers

Salient features
● This scheme involves scientists of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) and state agricultural universities.
● Groups of four multidisciplinary scientists each will be constituted at these institutes and universities. Each group will “adopt” five villages within a radius of maximum 100 km.

1.12 Price Stabilization Fund

Objective: to safeguard the interest of the growers and provide them financial relief when prices fall below a specified level.

Scheme:
● Central Sector Scheme.
● To support market interventions for price control of perishable agri-horticultural commodities.
● PSF will be used to advance interest free loan to State Governments and Central agencies to support their working capital and other expenses on procurement and distribution interventions for such commodities.
● Procurement of the commodities will be undertaken directly from farmers or farmers’ organizations at farm gate/mandi and made available at a more reasonable price to the consumers.
● Initially the fund is proposed to be used for onion and potato only. Losses incurred, if any, in the operations will be shared between the Centre and the States.

Framework and Funding:

● States will set up a revolving fund to which theCentre and State will contribute equally, i.e. 50:50.
● The ratio of Centre-State contribution to the State-level corpus in respect of Northeast States will, however, be 75:25.

1.13 Mission Fingerling

● It is a programme to enable holistic development and management of the fisheries sector in India.
● The mission aims to achieve the target to enhance fisheries production from 10.79 mmt (2014-15) to 15 mmt by 2020-21 under the Blue Revolution.

Programme:

● Government has identified 20 States based ontheir potential and other relevant factors to strengthen the Fish Fingerling production and Fish Seed infrastructure in the country.
● This program will facilitate the establishment of Fingerling rearing pond and hatcheries.
● This will converge in the production of 20 lakh tonnes of fish annually, which will in turn benefit about 4 million families.
● The implementation of this program will supplement the requirement of stocking materials in the country up to a large extent, which is a much needed input to achieve the enhanced fish production.

1.14 Umbrella Scheme Green Revolution — Krishonnati Yojana

AIM

These schemes look to develop the agriculture and allied sector in a holistic and scientific manner to increase the income of farmers by enhancing
production, productivity and better returns on produce.

The Schemes that are part of the Umbrella Schemes are :-

i. Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH)
ii. National Food Security Mission (NFSM)
iii. National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA)
iv. Submission on Agriculture Extension (SMAE)
v. Sub-Mission on Seeds and Planting Material (SMSP)
vi. Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanisation (SMAM)
vii. Sub Mission on Plant Protection and Plan Quarantine (SMPPQ)
viii. Integrated Scheme on Agriculture Census, Economics and Statistics (ISACES)
ix. Integrated Scheme on Agricultural Cooperation (ISAC)
x. Integrated Scheme on Agricultural Marketing (ISAM)
xi. National e-Governance Plan (NeGP-A) The Schemes/Missions focus on
creating/strengthening of infrastructure of production, reducing production cost and marketing of agriculture and allied produce.

1.15 Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA)

1. The Scheme is aimed at ensuring remunerative prices to the farmers for their produce as announced in the Union Budget for 2018.
2. It is expected that the increase in MSP will be translated to farmers’ income by way of robust procurement mechanism in coordination with
the State Governments.
The three schemes that are part of AASHA are:
1. the Price Support Scheme (PSS)
2. the Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS)
3. the Pilot of Private Procurement and Stockist Scheme (PPPS)
● These three components will complement the existing schemes of the Department of Food and Public Distribution.
● They relate to paddy, wheat and other cereals and coarse grains where procurement is at MSP now.
● PSS – Under the PSS, physical procurement of pulses, oilseeds and copra will be done by Central Nodal Agencies.
● Besides, NAFED and Food Corporation of India will also take up procurement of crops under PSS.
● The expenditure and losses due to procurement will be borne by the Centre.
● PDPS – Under the PDPS, the Centre proposes to cover all oilseeds.
● The difference between the MSP and actual selling/modal price will be directly paid into the farmer’s bank account.
● Farmers who sell their crops in recognised mandis within the notified period can benefit from it.
● PPSS – In the case of oilseeds, States will have the option to roll out PPSS in select districts.
● Under this, a private player can procure crops at MSP when market prices drop below MSP.
● The private player will then be compensated through a service charge up to a maximum of 15% of the MSP.

1.16 Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)

What is the news: The Central Government notified a decision to extend the benefit of ₹6,000 per year under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi
scheme to all 14.5 crore farmers in the country, irrespective of the size of their landholding.
● Central sector scheme

Objective

○ To provide income support to all farmer families having cultivable land.
○ To supplement the financial needs of the farmers in procuring various inputs to ensure proper crop health and appropriate yields, commensurate with the anticipated farm income.

Salient Features:

● The revised Scheme is expected to coveraround 2 crore more farmers, increasing the coverage of PM-KISAN to around 14.5 crore
beneficiaries.
● Responsibility of identifying the landholder farmer family eligible for benefit under the scheme shall be of the State/UT Government.
● The lists of eligible beneficiaries would be published at the village level to ensure transparency.
● Exclusions: Certain categories of beneficiaries of higher economic status such as institutional landholders, former and present holder of constitutional posts, persons who paid income tax in the last assessment year etc. shall not be eligible for benefit under the scheme.
■ Professionals like doctors, engineers and lawyers as well as retired pensioners with a monthly pension of over ₹10,000 and those who paid income tax in the last assessment year are also not eligible for the benefits.
■ For the purpose of exclusion State/UT Government can certify the eligibility of the beneficiary based on self-declaration by the beneficiaries.
● A dedicated PM Kisan Portal will be launched for the implementation of the scheme.
● This is a Central Sector Scheme and will be funded fully by the Government of India

1.1 Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana

Objective

● To achieve convergence of investments in irrigation at the field level.
● To enhance the recharge of aquifers and introduce sustainable water conservation practices.
● To explore the feasibility of reusing treated municipal wastewater for peri-urban agriculture.
● To attract greater private investments in irrigation.
● To promote extension activities relating to water harvesting, water management and crop alignment for farmers and grass root level field
functionaries.

Salient features

● Decentralized State level planning and projectized execution’ structure, in order to allow States to draw up a District Irrigation Plan (DIP) and a State Irrigation Plan (SIP). These plans need to be prepared in order to access
the PMKSY fund.
● It will be supervised and monitored by the Inter-Ministerial National Steering Committee (NSC) under PM with Union Ministers of all concerned Ministries. A National Executive Committee (NEC) is to be constituted under the Chairmanship of the Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog to oversee programme implementation.
● PMKSY has been formulated amalgamation ongoing schemes viz. Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP); Integrated
Watershed Management Programme (IWMP); and On-Farm Water Management (OFWM) component of National Mission on Sustainable
Agriculture (NMSA).
● Water budgeting is done for all sectors namely, household, agriculture and industries.
● Investments will happen at farm level. So, farmers know what is happening and can provide valuable feedback.
● Recently, the Long Term Irrigation Fund has been instituted under PMKSY in NABARD for funding and fast-tracking the implementation
of incomplete major and medium irrigation projects.

1.2 RASHTRIYA KRISHI VIKAS YOJANA – RAFTAAR (RKVY-RAFTAAR)

Objective

● To make farming a remunerative economic activity through strengthening the farmer’s efforts, risk mitigation and promoting
agribusiness entrepreneurship.
● To attend national priorities through several sub-schemes.
● To empower youth through skill development, innovation and agri entrepreneurship based business models.

Salient features 

● RKVY, initiated in 2007 as an umbrella scheme for holistic development of agriculture and allied sectors, has been recently revamped as
RKVY-RAFTAAR – Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied sector Rejuvenation for 2017-19 and 2019-20.
● It provided states with considerable flexibility and autonomy for planning and executing Programs.
● The decentralised planning for agriculture and allied sectors is initiated by the states through District Agriculture Plan and State Agriculture
Plan based on agro-climatic conditions, availability of appropriate technology and natural priorities.
● It will incentivize states to increase allocations for agriculture and allied sectors and help in creation of post-harvest infrastructure and
promotion of private investment in the farm sector across the country.
● Fund Allocation – 60:40 grants between Centre
and States in states and 90:10 for North Eastern States and Himalayan States through following streams – o Infrastructure & Assets and Production Growth o RKVY-RAFTAAR special sub-schemes of National Priorities o Innovation
and agri-entrepreneur development.

Sub-schemes include

● Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India
● Crop Diversification Program – It is being implemented in the Original Green Revolution States of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh to diversify area from water-guzzling crop
● Reclamation of Problem Soil ● Foot & Mouth Disease – Control Program
(FMD-CP)
● Saffron Mission
● Accelerated Fodder Development Programme (AFDP)

1.3 NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY MISSION

Objective

● Increasing production of rice, wheat, pulses, coarse cereals and commercial crops through area expansion and productivity enhancement
in a sustainable manner.
● Restore soil fertility and productivity at the individual farm level.
● Enhancing farm level economy.

Salient features

● It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme which was launched in 2007.
● The approach of the scheme is to bridge the yield gap in respect of these crops through dissemination of improved technologies and farm management practices while focusing on districts which have high potential but relatively low level of productivity at present.
● Major Components – National Food Security Mission – Rice, National Food Security Mission – Wheat, National Food Security Mission – Pulses,
National Food Security Mission – Coarse Cereals and National Food Security Mission –Commercial Crops.

1.4 National Horticulture Mission

1. To provide holistic growth of the horticulture sector through an area based regionally differentiated strategies, to enhance horticulture production, improve nutritional security and income support to farm households
2. To establish convergence and synergy among multiple ongoing and planned programmes for horticulture development
3. To promote, develop and disseminate technologies, through a seamless blend of traditional wisdom and modern scientific knowledge
4. To create opportunities for employment generation for skilled and unskilled persons, especially unemployed youth.

Scheme:

A National Horticulture Mission was launched in 2005-06 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme to promote holistic growth of the horticulture sector
through an area based regionally differentiated strategies. The scheme has been subsumed as a part of Mission for Integration Development of
Horticulture (MIDH) during 2014-15.

What is the National Horticulture Mission?

The National Horticulture Mission is a government mission to support horticultural production in the country. NHM is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme in which the Government of India contributes 85%, and 15% is met by the State Governments.

Factual Information:

● India ranks second in the global production of fruits and vegetables next to China.
● Started in 2005-06.

1.5 SOIL HEALTH CARD SCHEME

Objective

● To issue soil health cards every 3 years, to all farmers of the country, so as to provide a basis to address nutrient deficiencies in fertilization practices.
● To strengthen the functioning of Soil Testing Laboratories (STLs) through capacity building, the involvement of agriculture students and
effective linkage with Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) / State Agricultural Universities (SAUs).
● To diagnose soil fertility related constraints with standardized procedures for sampling uniformly across states.
● To build capacities of district and state level staff and of progressive farmers for promotion of nutrient management practices.

Salient features

● It is a centrally sponsored scheme launched by the Government of India in 2015.
● It is being implemented through the Department of Agriculture of all the State and Union Territory Governments.
● Assistance is provided to the State Government to issue Soil Health Card and also develop a database to improve service delivery.
● Soil Health Card issued to farmers carry crop-wise recommendations of nutrients and fertilizers required for the individual farms.
● The experts will analyze the strength and weaknesses (micronutrients deficiency) of the soil collected from farms and suggest measures
to deal with it.
● It will contain the status of his soil with respect to 12 parameters, namely N,P,K (Macronutrients); S (Secondary nutrient); Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn, Bo (Micro – nutrients); and pH, EC, OC (Physical parameters).

1.6 PM FASAL BIMA YOJANA

Objective

● To provide insurance coverage and financial support to the farmers in the event of natural calamities, pests & diseases.
● To stabilise the income of farmers to ensure
their continuance in farming. ● To encourage farmers to adopt innovative and
modern agricultural practices.
● To ensure flow of credit to the agriculture sector.
Intended beneficiary.
● All farmers including sharecroppers and tenant farmers growing notified crops in a notified area during the season who have insurable interest in the crop are eligible.

Salient features

● It replaced all other existing insurance schemes except the Restructured Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme (uses weather parameters as
proxy for crop yield in compensating the cultivators for deemed crop loses) .
● A uniform premium of only 2% to be paid by farmers for all Kharif crops and 1.5% for all Rabi crops.
● In case of annual commercial and horticultural crops, the premium to be paid by farmers will be only 5%.
● There is no upper limit on Government subsidy so farmers will get claim against full sum insured without any reduction.
● The difference between the premium paid by farmers and the actuarial premium charged was paid by the Centre and state government in
the ratio of 50:50.
● It is compulsory for loanee farmers availing crop loans for notified crops in notified areas and voluntary for non-loanee farmers.
● Yield Losses: due to non-preventable risks, such as Natural Fire and Lightning, Storm, Hailstorm, Cyclone, Typhoon, Tempest, Hurricane, Tornado.
Risks due to Flood, Inundation and Landslide, Drought, Dry spells, Pests/ Diseases also will be covered.
● Post-harvest losses are also covered.
● Mandatory use of technology: Smart phones, drones etc., will be used to capture and upload data of crop cutting to reduce the delays in claim payment to farmers. Remote sensing will be used to reduce the number of crop cutting
experiments.
● The Scheme shall be implemented on an ‘Area Approach basis’. Defined Area (i.e., unit area of insurance) is Village or above. It can be a
Geo-Fenced/Geo-mapped region having homogenous Risk Profile for the notified crop.
● Presently, 5 public sector insurers (Agriculture
Insurance Company of India, United India Insurance Company etc.) and 13 private insurance companies are empanelled for implementation of the scheme.
● Recently, states have been allowed to set up their own insurance companies for implementing the scheme.

1.7 National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture

National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) has been formulated for enhancing agricultural productivity especially in rainfed areas focusing on integrated farming, water use efficiency, soil health management and
synergizing resource conservation.

Objectives

● To make agriculture more productive, sustainable, remunerative and climate resilient by promoting location specific Integrated/Composite Farming Systems
● To conserve natural resources through appropriate soil and moisture conservation measures
● To adopt comprehensive soil health management practices based on soil fertility maps, soil test based application of macro & micro nutrients, judicious use of fertilizers etc.
● To optimize utilization of water resources through efficient water management to expand coverage for achieving ‘more crop per drop’.
● To develop capacity of farmers & stakeholders, in conjunction with other on going missions e.g. National Mission on Agriculture Extension &
Technology, National Food Security Mission, National Initiative for Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) etc., in the domain of
climate change adaptation and mitigation measures.
● To pilot models in select blocks for improving  productivity of rainfed farming by mainstreaming rainfed technologies refined through NICRA and by leveraging resources  from other schemes/Missions like Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP), RKVY etc.;
and
● To establish an effective inter and intra Departmental/Ministerial coordination for accomplishing key deliverables of National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture under the aegis of National Action Plan on Climate
Change (NAPCC).

1.8 PARAMPARAGAT KRISHI VIKAS YOJANA

Objective

● Promotion of commercial organic production through certified organic farming.
● pesticide residue free produce and improved health of consumer
● Raise farmer’s income and create potential markets for traders.
● Motivate the farmers for natural resource mobilization for input production.
● Increase domestic production and certification of organic produce by involving farmers.

Intended beneficiary
● Farmers doing organic farming
● Farmers from NE India such as Sikkim
● Food processing industries
● Organic foods – export industry

Salient features
● “Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana” is an elaborated component of Soil Health Management (SHM) under National Mission of Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA).
● Cluster Approach: Fifty or more farmers form a cluster having 50 acre land to take organic farming. Each farmer will be provided Rs. 20000
per acre in three years for seed to harvesting crops and to transport them to market.
● Government plans to form around 10 thousand clusters in three years and cover an area of 5 Lakh hectares under organic farming.

Components –
● Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) certification through cluster approach – mobilization of farmers, form clusters, identification of land resources and training on organic farming and PGS Certification and
quality control.
● Adoption of organic village for manure management and biological nitrogen harvesting through cluster approach –action plan for Organic Farming, Integrated Manure Management, Packing, Labelling and Branding
of organic products of cluster.

1.9 NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL MARKET
(NAM)

Objective

● To promote genuine price discovery
● Increases farmers’ options for sale and access to markets
● Liberal licensing of traders / buyers and commission agents. One license for a trader valid across all markets in the State
● Harmonisation of quality standards of agricultural produce
● Single point levy of market fees, i.e on the first wholesale purchase from the farmer.
● Provision of Soil Testing Laboratories in/ or near the selected mandi to facilitate visiting farmers to access this facility in the mandi itself

Intended beneficiary 

● 585 regulated wholesale markets in states/union territories (UTs).
● Farmers
● Local traders
● Bulk buyers, processors
● Farm produce exporters
● Overall economy of the nation

Salient features
● NAM is a pan-India electronic trading portal which seeks to network the existing APMCs and other market yards to create a unified national
market for agricultural commodities.
● Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) has been selected as the lead agency to implement it.
● Central government will provide the software free of cost to the states and in addition, a grant of up to Rs. 30 lakhs per mandi or market or
private mandis will be given for related equipment and infrastructure requirements.
● New Features added to the scheme such as E-NAM Mobile App, BHIM Payment facility, MIS dashboard for better analysis and insights,
grievance redressal mechanism for Mandi Secretaries and integration with Farmer Database to ease the registration and identification process will further strengthen e-NAM.
● Fund Allocation – The Scheme is being funded through AgriTech Infrastructure Fund (AITF).

1.10 KRISHI VIGYAN KENDRAS

Objective
● To be a frontline extension in agriculture, and to serve as a single window mechanism for addressing the technology needs of farmers
● To demonstrate location specific technologies and build capacity of farmers
● To serve as links between research and extension and also with farmers
Intended beneficiary
● Rural youth, farm women and Farmers (skill development training)
Salient features
● Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)has created a network of 645 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) in the country and 106 more
KVKs will be established.
● Directorate of Extension in State Agriculture Universities also helps KVKs in its activities.
● KVKs lay strong emphasis on skill development training of rural youth, farm women and farmers
● Provide latest technological inputs like seeds,planting materials and bio-products.
● Advise farmers on timely crop/enterprise related recommendations, including climate resilient technologies.
● Diagnose and solve problems emerging from district agro-ecosystems and lead in adoption of innovations.

1.11 MERA GAON-MERA GAURAV

Objective

● To promote direct interface of scientists withthe farmers and hasten the land to lab process.
● To imbibe a sense of ownership among the agricultural scientists
● To provide farmers with required information, knowledge and advisories on regular basis by adopting villages.

Intended beneficiary

● Scientists with ground level experience
● Farmers

Salient features
● This scheme involves scientists of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) and state agricultural universities.
● Groups of four multidisciplinary scientists each will be constituted at these institutes and universities. Each group will “adopt” five villages within a radius of maximum 100 km.

1.12 Price Stabilization Fund

Objective: to safeguard the interest of the growers and provide them financial relief when prices fall below a specified level.

Scheme:
● Central Sector Scheme.
● To support market interventions for price control of perishable agri-horticultural commodities.
● PSF will be used to advance interest free loan to State Governments and Central agencies to support their working capital and other expenses on procurement and distribution interventions for such commodities.
● Procurement of the commodities will be undertaken directly from farmers or farmers’ organizations at farm gate/mandi and made available at a more reasonable price to the consumers.
● Initially the fund is proposed to be used for onion and potato only. Losses incurred, if any, in the operations will be shared between the Centre and the States.

Framework and Funding:

● States will set up a revolving fund to which theCentre and State will contribute equally, i.e. 50:50.
● The ratio of Centre-State contribution to the State-level corpus in respect of Northeast States will, however, be 75:25.

1.13 Mission Fingerling

● It is a programme to enable holistic development and management of the fisheries sector in India.
● The mission aims to achieve the target to enhance fisheries production from 10.79 mmt (2014-15) to 15 mmt by 2020-21 under the Blue Revolution.

Programme:

● Government has identified 20 States based ontheir potential and other relevant factors to strengthen the Fish Fingerling production and Fish Seed infrastructure in the country.
● This program will facilitate the establishment of Fingerling rearing pond and hatcheries.
● This will converge in the production of 20 lakh tonnes of fish annually, which will in turn benefit about 4 million families.
● The implementation of this program will supplement the requirement of stocking materials in the country up to a large extent, which is a much needed input to achieve the enhanced fish production.

1.14 Umbrella Scheme Green Revolution — Krishonnati Yojana

AIM

These schemes look to develop the agriculture and allied sector in a holistic and scientific manner to increase the income of farmers by enhancing
production, productivity and better returns on produce.

The Schemes that are part of the Umbrella Schemes are :-

i. Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH)
ii. National Food Security Mission (NFSM)
iii. National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA)
iv. Submission on Agriculture Extension (SMAE)
v. Sub-Mission on Seeds and Planting Material (SMSP)
vi. Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanisation (SMAM)
vii. Sub Mission on Plant Protection and Plan Quarantine (SMPPQ)
viii. Integrated Scheme on Agriculture Census, Economics and Statistics (ISACES)
ix. Integrated Scheme on Agricultural Cooperation (ISAC)
x. Integrated Scheme on Agricultural Marketing (ISAM)
xi. National e-Governance Plan (NeGP-A) The Schemes/Missions focus on
creating/strengthening of infrastructure of production, reducing production cost and marketing of agriculture and allied produce.

1.15 Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA)

1. The Scheme is aimed at ensuring remunerative prices to the farmers for their produce as announced in the Union Budget for 2018.
2. It is expected that the increase in MSP will be translated to farmers’ income by way of robust procurement mechanism in coordination with
the State Governments.
The three schemes that are part of AASHA are:
1. the Price Support Scheme (PSS)
2. the Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS)
3. the Pilot of Private Procurement and Stockist Scheme (PPPS)
● These three components will complement the existing schemes of the Department of Food and Public Distribution.
● They relate to paddy, wheat and other cereals and coarse grains where procurement is at MSP now.
● PSS – Under the PSS, physical procurement of pulses, oilseeds and copra will be done by Central Nodal Agencies.
● Besides, NAFED and Food Corporation of India will also take up procurement of crops under PSS.
● The expenditure and losses due to procurement will be borne by the Centre.
● PDPS – Under the PDPS, the Centre proposes to cover all oilseeds.
● The difference between the MSP and actual selling/modal price will be directly paid into the farmer’s bank account.
● Farmers who sell their crops in recognised mandis within the notified period can benefit from it.
● PPSS – In the case of oilseeds, States will have the option to roll out PPSS in select districts.
● Under this, a private player can procure crops at MSP when market prices drop below MSP.
● The private player will then be compensated through a service charge up to a maximum of 15% of the MSP.

1.16 Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)

What is the news: The Central Government notified a decision to extend the benefit of ₹6,000 per year under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi
scheme to all 14.5 crore farmers in the country, irrespective of the size of their landholding.
● Central sector scheme

Objective

○ To provide income support to all farmer families having cultivable land.
○ To supplement the financial needs of the farmers in procuring various inputs to ensure proper crop health and appropriate yields, commensurate with the anticipated farm income.

Salient Features:

● The revised Scheme is expected to coveraround 2 crore more farmers, increasing the coverage of PM-KISAN to around 14.5 crore
beneficiaries.
● Responsibility of identifying the landholder farmer family eligible for benefit under the scheme shall be of the State/UT Government.
● The lists of eligible beneficiaries would be published at the village level to ensure transparency.
● Exclusions: Certain categories of beneficiaries of higher economic status such as institutional landholders, former and present holder of constitutional posts, persons who paid income tax in the last assessment year etc. shall not be eligible for benefit under the scheme.
■ Professionals like doctors, engineers and lawyers as well as retired pensioners with a monthly pension of over ₹10,000 and those who paid income tax in the last assessment year are also not eligible for the benefits.
■ For the purpose of exclusion State/UT Government can certify the eligibility of the beneficiary based on self-declaration by the beneficiaries.
● A dedicated PM Kisan Portal will be launched for the implementation of the scheme.
● This is a Central Sector Scheme and will be funded fully by the Government of India

• US, UK and a few other countries set up, an interim organisation about trade named GATT (General Agreement on Tariff and Trade) in 1947
• GATT was biased in favour of the developed countries and was called informally as the Rich men’s club.
• So, the developing countries insisted on setting up the International Trade Organisation (ITO)
• That’s the reason, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was set up in 1964 as an alternative, on the recommendation of the UN committee
• Next development comes in Uruguay Round of GATT, it sought to expand the scope of the organisation by including, services, investment and intellectual property rights (IPR)
• Agreements were ratified by the legislatures of 85 member-countries by year-end 1994.
• On such rectification, the WTO started functioning from Jan 1, 1995, < Marrakesh Agreement>

Functions of WTO

• The WTO deals with regulation of trade in goods, services and intellectual property between participating countries.
• It provides a framework for negotiating trade agreements and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants’ adherence to WTO agreements, which are signed by representatives of member governments and ratified by their parliaments.

G20

• Formed in 1999, the G20 is an international forum of the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies.
• Collectively, the G20 economies account for around 85 percent of the Gross World Product (GWP), 80 percent of world trade.
• To tackle the problems or the address issues that plague the world, the heads of governments of the G20 nations periodically participate in summits.
• In addition to it, the group also hosts separate meetings of the finance ministers and foreign ministers.
• The G20 has no permanent staff of its own and its chairmanship rotates annually between nations divided into regional groupings. 

Aims and objectives

• The Group was formed with the aim of studying, reviewing, and promoting high-level discussion of policy issues pertaining to the promotion of international financial stability.
• The forum aims to pre-empt the balance of payments problems and turmoil on financial markets by improved coordination of monetary, fiscal, and financial policies.
• It seeks to address issues that go beyond the responsibilities of any one organisation.

Member Countries

The members of the G20 consist of 19 individual countries plus the European Union (EU).

• The 19 member countries of the forum are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States.
• The European Union is represented by the European Commission and by the European Central Bank.

 Who are the G20 Sherpas?

• A Sherpa is the personal representative of a head of state or government who prepares an international summit, particularly the annual G7 and G20 summits.
• Between the summits, there are multiple Sherpa conferences where possible agreements are laid out.
• This reduces the amount of time and resources required at the negotiations of the heads of state at the final summit.
• The Sherpa is generally quite influential, although they do not have the authority to make a final decision about any given agreement.
• The name is derived from the Sherpa people, a Nepalese ethnic group, who serve as guides and porters in the Himalayas, a reference to the fact that the Sherpa clears the way for a head of state at a major summit.

G7

• The G7 or the Group of Seven is a group of the seven most advanced economies as per the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
• The seven countries are Canada, USA, UK, France, Germany, Japan and Italy. The EU is also represented in the G7.
• These countries, with the seven largest IMF-described advanced economies in the world, represent 58% of the global net wealth ($317 trillion).
• The G7 countries also represent more than 46% of the global gross domestic product (GDP) based on nominal values, and more than 32% of the global GDP based on purchasing power parity.
• The requirements to be a member of the G7 are a high net national wealth and a high HDI (Human Development Index).