Nirmala & Tomar to inaugurate “transformative initiatives” to revolutionize agriculture in country today

New Delhi: Union Finance Minister, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman and Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar will inaugurate a series of transformative initiatives tomorrow, focusing on agri-credit (KCC & MISS) and crop insurance (PMFBY/RWBCIS), keeping the welfare of farmers at their core. Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare is launching these initiatives for revolutionizing agriculture in India and aims to amplify financial inclusion, streamline data utilization, harness technology and enhance the livelihoods of the agricultural community.

The launch event signifies the Indian government’s commitment to innovation and efficient service delivery in agriculture, with a focus on   improving farmers’ livelihoods and fostering agricultural transformation.

Initiative Highlights:

1. Kisan Rin Portal (KRP)

The Kisan Rin Portal (KRP), developed in collaboration with multiple government departments, is poised to revolutionize access to credit services under the Kisan Credit Card (KCC). This digital platform offers a comprehensive view of farmer data, loan disbursement specifics, interest subvention claims, and scheme utilization progress, fostering seamless integration with banks for more focused and efficient agriculture credit.

2. Ghar-Ghar KCC Abhiyaan: Door to Door KCC Campaign

The event marks the beginning of the “Ghar Ghar KCC Abhiyaan,” an ambitious campaign to extend the benefits of the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) Scheme to every farmer across India. This campaign aims to achieve universal financial inclusion, ensuring that every farmer has unhindered access to credit facilities that drive their agricultural pursuits. This campaign will play a pivotal role in reaching out to non-KCC account holder PM KISAN beneficiaries and fostering the saturation of KCC Accounts among eligible PM Kisan beneficiary farmers. Total number of operative KCC Accounts as on March 2023 are 7.35 Crores with total sanctioned limit of Rs. 8.85 lakh crores.

For KCC Ghar Ghar Abhiyaan, NABARD has been identified as the Primary Executing Organization, vested with the responsibility of overall execution and monitoring of the programme. In this regard, NABARD has taken the initiative to develop a portal to facilitate in monitoring the conduct of saturation drive camps in the field as also processing and issuance of KCCs to all eligible PM Kisan beneficiaries by the respective banks.

3. Launch of WINDS Manual

The WINDS Manual, set to be unveiled during the event, extends the impact of the Weather Information Network Data Systems (WINDS) initiative. The WINDS system, an instrumental innovation, leverages advanced weather data analytics to provide stakeholders with actionable insights on weather. This comprehensive manual also provides stakeholders with an in-depth understanding of the portal’s functionalities, data interpretation, and effective utilization, empowering farmers, policymakers, and various agricultural entities to make well-informed choices. It also caters to parametric crop insurance scheme of DA&FW in addition to non-scheme parametric insurance programmes for crop risk mitigation and disaster risk reduction and mitigation being run by the Insurance industry. It serves as a guide to understand the processes to be undertaken by the States & UTs for establishing and integrating with the WINDS platform, maintaining transparent and objective data observation and transmission and offering practical insights into leveraging weather data for improved crop management, resource allocation, and risk mitigation.

The event embodies the Government of India’s commitment to innovation and efficient service delivery for agriculture, aiming to sustain and double farmers’ income, through initiatives like the Kisan Rin Portal (KRP) for objective monitoring and efficient credit delivery, the Ghar Ghar KCC Abhiyaan for making institutional short-term agriculture credit available to left out farmers and the WINDS Manual for hyper-local weather data collection, management and utilization for agriculture and climatic/disaster risk reduction purposes.

The event symbolizes Government of India’s dedication to farmers’ prosperity and ensuring innovation, infusion of technology and objectivity in delivering the efficient services to them. These efforts and innovations will help in furthering the goal of agricultural transformation and sustainable economic growth for farming community of the country as a whole.