Wheat, Pulses and Oilseed procurement centres witnessed 3-fold jump during Pandemic: Dr Jitendra Singh

Reasi: Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh today said the Modi Government ensured higher crop procurement during COVID pandemic, which is an indication of the sensitivity with which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the team led by him are committed to respond to the needs of farmer community during crisis times.

Interacting with farmers, Panchayat representatives and local activists of peripheral areas of Basohli and Reasi, Dr Jitendra Singh cited figures to state that despite COVID-19, the procurement of Wheat was 15 percent higher than the last year and about 390 lakh tonnes of wheat was procured throughout the country. He said, despite lockdown measures in place, the Centre has ensured procurement from the doorsteps of farmers. Referring to Government initiatives during the Pandemic for Agricultural Sector, the Minister informed that Centre has distributed Rs 75,000 Crore for procurement and other welfare measures for farmers.

He said, even the Wheat Procurement Centres increased 3 fold during Corona crisis and similarly Procurement Centres for Pulses and Oilseeds increased nearly threefold during the pandemic.

Dr.Jitendra Singh said that over the last six years, numerous innovative reforms brought in by the Modi government which included Soil Health Card, PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna, Kisan Card, Neem coated urea, Micro-irrigation, creation of e-Mandis and FPOs for the overall benefit of farmers. He reiterated that the minimum support price (MSP) and APMC (Agricultural Produce & Livestock Market Committee) will continue and will never be removed at any cost.

Dr Jitendra Singh cautioned that some vested interests are spreading myths about their abolition, which need to be countered at all levels. He also informed that over the last six years, the MSP on crops was progressively raised by the Modi government.

Referring to suicides by farmers, the Union Minister reiterated that that all the pro-farm measures and new Farm Laws having placed specific safeguard and security provisions in place, the farmers will have a window of relief and will lead to farm prosperity. He said, the new measures will usher in a new revolution in farm sector and the young generations will take up this vocation as a new and profitable entrepreneur.

Dr Jitendra Singh said that Farm reforms introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi allow liberty to choose the crop cost and give the farmers the freedom to have more buyers and flexibility in choosing the price at which they sell their produce. He categorically stated that a contract agreement will guarantee the farmers to get the fixed price. Moreover, the new legislation clearly prohibits sale, lease or mortgage of farmers’ land, he said.

Dr Jitendra Singh appealed to all activists to reach out to each and every farmer in every village and explain to him the big conspiracy being hatched against him. This, he said, will enable the agricultural community to avail of the enormous welfare initiatives introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

From Basohli, those who participated in the interaction included Col (Retd) Mahan Singh,Ramchand, Ajit Singh, Naresh Basotra, Jasvinder Singh “Jassi”, Kewal Singh, Balbinder Singh,Tejinder Singh, Yubhkaran Singh,Sushma Jamwal, Shanker Singh, Naman Sharma and others.

From Reasi those who participated included Padam Dev Singh, Munshi Ram, Mohinder Kumar, Shanker Sharma and others.

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Rising recovery rate, falling active cases prove success of Centre-led Covid-19 containment strategy: Harsh Vardhan

New Delhi: Health minister Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday said India’s continuously rising recovery rate and progressively falling active cases have proven the success of the Centre-led COVID-19 containment strategy.Vardhan, speaking at the digital inauguration of a Super Speciality Block (SSB) in Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa, noted that the testing capacity has been successfully ramped up and the country has crossed the eight crore milestone in terms of total tests.”Since the last nine months, India has been relentlessly fighting the infectious disease. India’s continuously rising recovery rate and progressively falling active cases have proven the success of the Centre-led COVID-19 containment strategy.”We have successfully ramped up our testing capacity which has crossed more than 8 cr milestone in terms of total tests,” he was quoted as saying in a statement.From one laboratory in January, the country now has 1,889 labs spread across the country, he said.”I have confidence in the scientific developments taking place in the field of treatment and vaccines for COVID-19 and soon India will achieve more success in our fight against COVID-19,” he added.India’s COVID-19 tally of cases climbed to 67.57 lakh on Wednesday with 72,049 new cases in a day, while 57,44,693 people have recuperated so far, pushing the national recovery rate to 85.02 per cent.There are 9,07,883 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country, according to the Union Health Ministry data.According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 8,22,71,654 samples have been tested up to October 6.Vardhan also urged the people to follow COVID appropriate behaviour.He reminded people about the “social vaccine” of wearing masks and face covers while in public, following hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette, and maintaining physical distancing or ‘Do gaz ki doori’ to curb the spread of the infection.