Chouhan asks officers to ensure that the impact of agriculture schemes gets reflected on ground

A day after asking his Ministry officials to work on the theme of the BJP’s Sankalp Patra, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday called for the overhauling of schemes or even closure if those are not yielding desired results instead of just prolonging such programmes. Sources said he also directed the senior officials to see that the results are reflected on the ground.

Discussing the 100-day action plan with ministry officials, Chouhan said that strong steps should be taken to strengthen the country’s agriculture sector and reduce the pain and suffering of farmers. He also stressed on the availability of quality fertilizers, seeds, and other inputs to the farmers on priority. Farmers should not face any problems in this regard, and special care should be taken, he said.

Highlighting the success of “Ladli Behna Yojana” in Madhya Pradesh, in which the state government transfers ₹1,000/month to poor women in their bank accounts, the minister said that in three months its impact was visible to everyone, sources said. He was of the opinion that necessary changes in a scheme should be made instead of continuing with the same for a longer period, even if there is a need for tweaks, sources said.

Export to meet needs

While emphasising the need to raise agricultural production and productivity, he said, “We should implement a concrete action plan so that we can export quality agricultural products to other countries as per their needs besides fulfilling our domestic needs.”

The meeting, where senior officials explained to the new ministers through presentations of department-wise schemes, was also attended by newly inducted Ministers of State for Agriculture Ramnath Thakur and Bhagirath Choudhary, as well as Secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Himanshu Pathak, an official statement said.

Meanwhile, the new minister for fisheries, animal husbandry, and dairying, Rajiv Ranjan Singh, has also interacted with his ministry officials on Wednesday. In the meeting, attended by the two MoS SP Singh Baghel and George Kurian, the animal husbandry secretary, Alka Upadhyaya, briefed them about all the activities of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying. She presented an overview of the livestock sector in the country, a separate official statement said. Singh was also apprised by officials of the progress of all the current activities.