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AgroPolicy, Finance, Sustainability

During a joint press conference with Kenyan President William Ruto, Prime Minister Modi announced

Narendra Modi, Prime Minister said India and Kenya will continue to explore new opportunities to realise the full potential of economic cooperation between two nations. He stressed that India has remained a trusted and committed development partner for Kenya.

During a joint press conference with Kenyan President William Ruto, Prime Minister Modi announced that India will provide Kenya with a $250 million line of credit to modernise its agricultural sector.

He announced, “As two agricultural economies, we have agreed to share our experiences. We have also decided to provide a $250 million line of credit to modernise Kenya’s agricultural sector.”

“Today, we thought of strengthening our cooperation in all sectors and identified many new initiatives,” said PM Modi, laying the foundation for a progressive future.

“We are pleased to report that the mutual trade and investment between India and Kenya is steadily progressing, and we will continue to explore new opportunities to fully realise the potential of our economic cooperation. India has been a trusted and committed development partner for Kenya, and through ITEC and ICCR scholarships, India has made a significant contribution to the skill development and capacity building of the people of Kenya,” stated the Prime Minister.

After discussions in various areas, including sports, information technology, and education, five Memorandums of Understanding were exchanged.

Prime Minister Modi expressed his happiness over the visit of Kenyan President Ruto to India, especially after the inclusion of the African Union in the G20. He stated that Ruto’s visit would provide a fresh impetus to India’s relations with Kenya and the African Union.

During a joint press conference with Kenyan

AgroPolicy, Biofuel industry, India

India’s Biofuel Standards Offer Significant Support to Industry

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the National Standards Body of India commits to complement the green initiatives of the country through the development of relevant standards. Through an official release, BIS also announced that the Indian Standards will significantly complement the objectives of the Global Biofuel Alliance (GBA), the multilateral forum announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the G20 leaders’ summit held recently in New Delhi.

The BIS release also quoted the Director General, of BIS, Pramod Kumar Tiwari who said, “The announcement of Global Biofuel Alliance (GBA) by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the G20 summit is a historic development in global efforts towards achieving clean energy goals. We, at the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), being the National Standards Body of India, are committed to supporting this path-breaking initiative of the Government of India through the development of relevant Indian Standards and necessary quality parameters/performance specifications.”

The release also highlighted the key standards that would aid stakeholders including manufacturers, traders, and other entities dealing with biofuel or related matters. The release stated that espousing the ethanol blending program and the objectives of the GBA, BIS has developed the following nine Indian standards on biofuels:

IS 15464: 2022 Anhydrous Ethanol for Use as Blending Component in Motor Gasoline – Specification

IS 15607: 2022 Biodiesel B-100 – Fatty Acid Methyl Esters FAME – Specification

IS 16087: 2016 Biogas (Biomethane) – Specification (First Revision)

IS 16531: 2022 Biodiesel Diesel Fuel Blend B8 to B20 Specification

IS 16629: 2017 Hydrous ethanol for use in ED95 automotive fuel – Specification

IS 16634: 2017 E85 fuel (Blend Of Anhydrous Ethanol And Gasoline) – Specification

IS 17021: 2018 E 20 fuel – Admixture of anhydrous ethanol and gasoline – As fuel for spark-ignited engine-powered vehicles – Specification

IS 17081: 2019 Aviation turbine fuel (Kerosene Type, Jet A – 1) containing synthesized hydrocarbons – Specification

IS 17821: 2022 Ethanol as a Fuel for Use in Positive Ignition Engine Powered Vehicles – Specification

It is also informed by BIS that additionally, the development of a standard on paraffinic (green) diesel, which is derived from 2G feedstock, is also under progress. With the help of these set of standards, BIS believes, that increased capacity of biofuel production can be achieved and will provide multipronged benefits. It was also added that ‘it will not only help in meeting the target of net zero by 2070 and 50 per cent energy through renewable sources, but will also contribute in achieving several other objectives such as Make in India, Atmanirbhar Bharat, Waste to Wealth, and increasing farmers’ income to name a few.

Notably, during the 18th G20 Summit under the presidency of India at New Delhi, the G20 leaders launched the Global Biofuel Alliance (GBA) – a forum of 30 countries and international institutions to facilitate the adoption of biofuels.  GBA is an India-led initiative towards the goal of sustainability and clean energy. It aims at achieving worldwide development and deployment of sustainable biofuels through the formulation of national policy, development of the marketplace, evolution of technological competency, and adoption and implementation of internationally recognized standards and codes of practice.

Reportedly, the USA, Brazil, and India are the major producers and consumers of biofuels. These three countries collectively contribute to 85 per cent production and 81 per cent consumption of ethanol globally. The global ethanol market was valued at $ 99 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 5 per cent by 2032, creating a huge opportunity for Indian industries and contributing to farmers’ income, job creation and overall development of the Indian ecosystem.

It was estimated that currently, about 98 per cent of the fuel requirement in India for the transportation sector is met by fossil fuels and the remaining 2 per cent by biofuels. India’s import of petroleum in 2020-2021 cost about 55 billion dollars to the exchequer. More recently, the Russia-Ukraine war has spiked global oil prices and the import of oil and gas with inflated prices has further burdened the Indian economy. Blending of ethanol up to 20 per cent with gasoline will lead to savings of around $4 billion.

Hence, Indian Oil Manufacturing Companies (OMCs) are working towards provisioning new distilleries for the production of 1G and 2G ethanol and Indian vehicle manufacturers are developing engines compliant with ethanol-blended fuel. The government has also started an interest subvention scheme for molasses and grain-based distilleries to promote ethanol production. It is also foreseen that flex-fuel vehicles, which are capable of utilising ethanol-blended gasoline up to 85 per cent and are already operational in the USA and Brazil, are soon to make an entry in India.

India’s Biofuel Standards Offer Significant Support to

AgroPolicy, Finance, India, Schemes - Govt, Sustainability

Through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to the bank accounts of more than 8 crore beneficiary farmers across the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi transferred the 13th instalment of about Rs 16,800 crore under the ambitious Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme of the Government of India, through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to the bank accounts of more than 8 crore beneficiary farmers across the country. Thousands of farmers were present in this huge programme at Belagavi in Karnataka, while crores of farmers and others joined online. Chief Minister of Karnataka, Basavraj Bommai, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of State for Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs, Pralhad Joshi and Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Shobha Karandlaje and other elected representatives were also present on the occasion.

On this occasion, Prime Minister Modi said that today the whole of India has got a big gift from Belagavi. Another instalment of PM-Kisan has been transferred to the farmers of the country. With just one click, more than Rs. 16,000 crores have reached the bank accounts of crores of farmers across the country. Such a huge amount has been transferred in a moment, with no middleman, no cut-commission and no corruption, this is Modi’s Government, every bit is yours, and it is for you. There are 80-85 per cent of small farmers in India, now these Small Farmers are a priority of the government. About Rs. 2.5 lakh crores so far has been deposited in the accounts of these small farmers. Of this, more than Rs. 50,000 crores have been deposited in the accounts of our sisters and mothers. The Prime Minister said that since 2014, the country has been continuously moving towards a transformational change in agriculture. We are associating agriculture with modernity. In 2014, the budget for Agriculture was Rs. 25,000 crores, whereas this time our Agricultural Budget is more than Rs 1.25 lakh crore. We are connecting more and more farmers with Kisan Credit Cards. Our government has always kept the interests of sugarcane farmers paramount. In this year’s budget, an important decision has been taken related to sugarcane farmers. We have launched the PM Pranam Yojana for the farmers, through this, the States that reduce the use of chemical fertilizer will get additional help from the Centre.

Through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to the

AgroPolicy, Horticulture, India

Approval is based on recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices and views of major coconut growing states.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for copra for the 2023 season.  The approval is based on recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices and views of major coconut-growing states.

The MSP for Fair Average Quality of milling copra has been fixed at Rs 10860 per quintal and for ball copra at Rs 11750 per quintal for the 2023 season.  This is an increase of Rs 270 per quintal for milling copra and Rs 750 per quintal for ball copra over the previous season.  This would ensure a margin of 51.82 per cent for milling copra and 64.26 per cent for ball copra over the all India weighted average cost of production.  The announced MSP of copra for the 2023 season is in line with the principle of fixing the MSP at a level of at least 1.5 times all India weighted average cost of production as announced by the Government in the Budget 2018-19.

It is one of the important and progressive steps towards ensuring better remunerative returns to the coconut growers and improving their welfare substantively.

National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED) and the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation (NCCF) will continue to act as Central Nodal Agencies (CNAs) for the procurement of copra and de-husked coconut under the Price Support Scheme (PSS).

Approval is based on recommendations of the

AgroPolicy, India, Logistics, Supply Chain

National Logistics Policy has immense potential for development of infrastructure, expansion of business and increasing employment opportunities

The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi launched the National Logistics Policy (NLP) at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister called the launch of the National Logistics Policy a significant step in fulfilling the ‘Pran’ of India being a developed country. “To ensure quick last mile delivery, end transport-related challenges, save time and money of the manufacturers, prevent wastage of the agro-products, concerted efforts were made and one of the manifestations of those efforts is today’s National Logistics Policy”, the Prime Minister said. The resulting improvement in coordination will lead to the desired speed in the sector.

The Prime Minister reiterated that schemes like Sagarmala, Bharatmala, expedited the work of Dedicated Freight Corridors to improve logistics connectivity for systematic infrastructure development. Modi pointed out that the total capacity of Indian ports has increased significantly, and the average turn-around time of container vessels has come down from 44 hours to 26 hours. For promoting export, 40 air cargo terminals have been constructed. 30 airports have been provided cold-storage facilities. 35 multimodal hubs are coming up in the country. “Through waterways, we can do eco-friendly and cost-effective transportation, for this many new waterways are also being built in the country”, the Prime Minister added. He also mentioned Kisan Rail and Kisan Udan experiments during the Corona time. Today 60 airports have the facility of Krishi Udan.

PM also added that the echo of Make in India and India becoming self-reliant is everywhere. India is setting big export targets and is also fulfilling them. The notion that India is emerging as a manufacturing hub, is stabilizing in the mind of the world. If we study the PLI scheme we will find that the world has accepted it.”

The Prime Minister said that the National Logistics Policy will bring new energy to all sectors. When parameters, roadmap and timeline for performance come together then policy plus performance equal to progress emerges, he elaborated. “Today’s India prepares the ground before bringing any policy, only then a policy can be implemented successfully. National Logistics Policy has not come out of the blue and there are 8 years of hard work behind it”, he said.

National Logistics Policy has immense potential for

AgroPolicy, Dairy, India, Live Stock

The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi inaugurated International Dairy Federation World Dairy Summit (IDF WDS) 2022 organised at India Expo Centre & Mart, Greater Noida, today. Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister said that the World Dairy Summit is going to be a great medium for the exchange of ideas. “The potential of the dairy sector not only gives impetus to the rural economy but is also a major source of livelihood for crores of people across the world, he said.

PM stressed the growing entrepreneurial structures like FPAs and women self-help groups, and startups. He said that the sector has seen more than 1000-startups in recent times. He also talked about the strides in Gobardhan Yojna and said that aim is to reach a situation where dairy plants produce their own electricity from Gobar. The resulting manure will help the farmers also.

Drawing an analogy to farming, the Prime Minister said that animal husbandry and farming require diversity, and monoculture might not be the only solution. The Prime Minister stressed that today, India is paying equal attention to both indigenous breeds and hybrid breeds. He further elaborated that it will also reduce the risk of damage caused by climate change.

The Prime Minister addressed another major problem that is affecting the income of farmers which is the diseases of animals. “When the animal is sick it affects the life of the farmer, affecting his income. It also affects the efficiency of the animal, the quality of its milk and other related products”, he added. The Prime Minister emphasised that in this direction, India is working toward universal vaccination of animals. “We have resolved that by 2025, we will vaccinate 100% of the animals against Foot and Mouth Disease and Brucellosis. We are aiming to be completely free from these diseases by the end of this decade, the Prime Minister remarked.

Stressing the use of modern technology, the Prime Minister said that India is building the largest database of dairy animals and every animal associated with the dairy sector is being tagged. “We are doing biometric identification of animals. We have named it – Pashu Adhar”, he said.

The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi inaugurated International

AgroPolicy, Start ups

Aims to promote startups and encourage entrepreneurship in the state

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently launched Madhya Pradesh’s Startup Policy and Implementation Plan – 2022 which aims to promote startups and encourage entrepreneurship in the state. This startup policy has been especially developed to strengthen and bring to reality the entrepreneurial ideas of the youth of Madhya Pradesh. The Prime Minister launched the policy virtually at a programme organized at the Brilliant Convention Center, Indore in the presence of the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Prime Minister Modi also launched the Madhya Pradesh Start-up Portal, which will be a one-stop avenue for entrepreneurs, providing them with vital information and guidance on launching a start-up. The portal will be integrated with the central government’s start-up portal. Besides this, Prime Minister Modi engaged in online interactions with several entrepreneurs and encouraged them to build India from the grassroots.

Modi said, “We have come a long way, and today, the Madhya Pradesh portal and i-Hub Indore has been successfully launched under the start-up policy of the state. I want to congratulate the government of Madhya Pradesh for this exceptional feat.”

Madhya Pradesh has over 1,900 start-ups with more than 800 start-ups founded by women entrepreneurs. The state is an agricultural powerhouse and aims to promote more than 200 start-ups in the agriculture sector with special emphasis on product-based start-ups. The state has also focussed energy on the capacity-building of startup incubation centres. The policy will usher innovation, experimentation, and risk-taking, boosting the spirit of entrepreneurship in the state.

Aims to promote startups and encourage entrepreneurship

Start ups

A startup centre will be established to support startups

The Madhya Pradesh government is launching its Startup Policy and Implementation Plan – 2022 to promote startups and encourage entrepreneurs in the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch virtually, Madhya Pradesh’s Startup Policy and Implementation Plan, 2022 at the Brilliant Convention Center, Indore on May 13, in the presence of the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The startup policy has provisions to strengthen and bring to reality the entrepreneurial ideas of the youth of the state. A slew of events is planned across the state to drive awareness about the Madhya Pradesh Startup Policy.

The Sagar Smart City Incubation Centre, SPARK has made rapid strides in promoting Madhya Pradesh Startup Policy 2022. A series of policy awareness boot camps and workshops have been organized in various educational institutions, business establishments, and among the startup community, including Government ITI College, Edina Institute of Science, in Sagar.

Concurrently, about 18 startups are being incubated under the Smart City project in the Gwalior district. The government has selected several ideas from around 50 startups in the region for which a special workshop will be organized on May 11. This would be done to help understand the needs of these needs and to ensure that these ideas come to reality under the new start-up policy.

P Narhari, Secretary MSME Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh said, “The new Startup Policy is quite different from the old policy. One important feature being added in the MP Startup Policy 2022 is the concept of ‘MP Startup Centre’. Earlier, only one policy was being implemented by the department, but now this will be implemented in tandem with the MP Startup Centre. The startup centre will have a dedicated office, a head/mentor for every startup and experts from the relevant field, who will help the startup community.”

A startup centre will be established to

AgroPolicy, Dairy

A potato processing plant was also inaugurated

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation a new dairy complex and potato processing plant at Diyodar, Banaskantha district, built at a cost of over Rs 600 crores. The new dairy complex is a greenfield project. It will enable the processing of about 30 lakh litres of milk, produce about 80 tonnes of butter, one lakh litres of ice cream, 20 tonnes of condensed milk (Khoya) and six tonne of chocolate daily. The potato processing plant will produce different types of processed potato products like french fries, potato chips, aloo tikki, patties etc, many of which will be exported to other countries. These plants will empower the local farmers and give a boost to the rural economy in the region.

The Prime Minister also dedicated the Banas Community Radio Station to the nation. This Community Radio Station has been established to provide farmers with key scientific information related to agriculture and animal husbandry. It is expected that the radio station will connect with over 5 lakh farmers of about 1700 villages. The Prime Minister dedicated to the nation the expanded facilities for the production of cheese products and whey powder at the Banas dairy plant in Palanpur. Also, the Prime Minister dedicated to the nation, organic manure and biogas plant established at Dama, Gujarat. The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone of four gobar gas plants of 100 tonnes capacity to be established at Khimana, Ratanpura – Bhildi, Radhanpur and Thawar. Chief Minister of Gujarat Bhupendrabhai Patel was among those present on the occasion.

A potato processing plant was also inauguratedPrime

Acquaculture, AgroPolicy, Agrotech, Transportation

Garuda Aerospace has set a target of making one lakh ‘Made in India’ drones in the next two years

Kisan drones were recently launched at 100 places across the country from Manesar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the launch of the kisan drones said, “Till a few years back, a drone was considered to be technology related to the Army, or something used to combat enemies. Our thoughts used to be limited to that particular use only. But today we are inaugurating Kisan drone facilities in Manesar. This is a new chapter in the direction of the modern farming system of the 21st century.”

He added, “I am sure this launch will not only prove to be a milestone in the development of the drone sector but will also open endless doors of possibilities. I am also told that Garuda Aerospace has set a target of making one lakh ‘Made in India’ drones in the next two years. This will generate new jobs and new opportunities for several youngsters. I congratulate the team of Garuda Aerospace.”

According to the PM, kisan drone is now the beginning of a new age revolution in this direction. For example, in the coming times, with the help of high-capacity drones, farmers can send fresh vegetables, fruits, flowers from their fields to the markets. People associated with pisciculture can send fresh fish catch directly to the market from ponds, rivers and sea. The produce of the fishermen and farmers will reach the market in the shortest possible time with minimum damage.

Garuda Aerospace has set a target of

AgroPolicy, Biofuel industry, Biostimulants, Dairy, Environment, Live Stock, Sustainable Energy

Gobar Dhan plants will be set up in villages that will help to generate extra income for farmers and also to deal with the problem of stray and unsupported cattle

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Gobar-Dhan (Bio-CNG) plant in Indore through video conferencing. Governor Madhya Pradesh, Mangubhai C Patel; Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan; Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri, Dr Virendra Kumar and Kaushal Kishore were present.

The Prime Minister stressed the importance of Gobar Dhan and said wet urban household waste and waste from cattle and farm is Gobar Dhan. He said that Gobardhan from waste, clean fuel from Gobar Dhan, energy from clean fuel is a life-affirming chain. The Prime Minister informed that in the coming two years, Gober Dhan Bio CNG plants will be established in 75 big municipal bodies.

“This campaign will go a long way in making Indian cities clean, pollution-free and in the direction of clean energy”, he said. The Prime Minister said that not only in cities, Gobar Dhan plants are being set up in villages also, getting extra income for the farmers. This will help in dealing with the problem of stray and unsupported cattle along with meeting India’s climate commitments, he said.

The Prime Minister mentioned an increase in ethanol blending in petrol which has risen from 1 per cent to around 8 per cent in the last seven to eight years. The supply of ethanol increased significantly during this period from 40 crore litres to 300 crore litres, helping sugar mills and farmers.

The Prime Minister also talked about a significant decision in the Budget. It has been decided that coal-based electricity plants will also use parali or stubble. “This will help alleviate farmers’ troubles and will also provide extra income for farmers from agri-waste”, he said.

Gobar Dhan plants will be set up

AgroPolicy

PM will also release an equity grant of more than Rs 14 crore to about 351 Farmer Producer Organizations

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has planned to release the 10th installment of financial benefit under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme on January 1, 2022, on an online mode via video conferencing.

Moving ahead, the scheme will also enable the transfer of Rs 20,000 crore or more to the 10 crore plus beneficiary farmer families. The main agenda of this scheme was to empower the grassroots level farmers, by hearing and resolving the problems they face.

PM-KISAN scheme provides a yearly benefit of Rs 6000 to the eligible beneficiary farmer families, payable in three equal four-monthly installments of Rs 2000 each. The fund is transferred directly to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries. In this scheme, Samman Rashi of over Rs 1.6 lakh crore has been transferred to farmer families so far.

During the programme, PM will also release an equity grant of more than Rs 14 crore to about 351 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), which will benefit more than 1.24 lakh farmers. Prime Minister will also interact with FPOs during the event while addressing the nation.

PM will also release an equity grant