Guwahati: Amid the ongoing farmers protest in
Delhi's borders, Prime Minister Narendra
Modi today interacted with farmers of the nation. He began his interactions by
speaking with farmers from Arunachal Pradesh.
PM Modi asked Gagan,
an organic farmer producing ginger in Arunachal Pradesh, about his produce, his
land and if he was getting a proper market and the right price for his produce.
Gagan said that they
are doing business with private companies and this has in no way has impacted
their land ownership status.
The Prime Minister
spoke to farmers from Odisha, Haryana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, UP and
Tamil Nadu.
The farmers spoke
about how they have benefitted from the PM-KISAN scheme and other initiatives
taken by the government.
PM Modi released installments
of over Rs 18,000 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN).
This is expected to benefit over nine crore farmer families.
Under PM-Kisan scheme, a financial benefit of Rs 6,000 is provided to eligible farmers every year.
The Prime Minister
regretted the fact that more than 70 lakh farmers of West Bengal have not been
able to get the benefits under PM-Kisan.
Addressing the
farmers after the interaction, PM Modi said that the government has been trying
to ensure that the farmers get appropriate price for their produce.
Over thousand
agricultural mandis have been added online and groups of small farmers have been
created to help them work collectively, PM Modi said.
He also listed some
farmer-centric initiatives of the Government like Soil Health Card, Neem
Coating of Urea, scheme for distribution of Solar Pumps which helped in
reducing the input cost for the farmers.
"Today, a campaign
is underway to form more than 10,000 Farmers Producer Organizations - FPO in
the country, they are being given financial help," PM Modi added.
Union ministers Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal and Smriti Irani joined the interactions from Delhi, Silchar, Hapur and Amethi respectively.
The interaction with
the farmers took place as the farmers' protests entered day 30 today.
The day also marks the 96th birth anniversary of one of BJP's tallest leader and former Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
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