Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Agriculture

30-November-2012 16:5 IST

Government announces each season minimum support prices for major agriculture commodities to ensure remunerative prices to the growers taking into consideration the relevant factors including the cost of production and changes in the input prices and organizes purchase operations through public and cooperative agencies. Besides, to raise farm income and to improve agriculture production and productivity, Government has formulated various schemes like Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), National Food Security Mission (NFSM), National Horticulture Mission (NHM), Integrated Scheme of Oilseeds, Pulses, Oil Palm and Maize (ISOPOM), Agriculture Credit Initiatives, Market Intervention Scheme (MIS), Crop Insurance etc.

A package for revival and strengthening of Short-Term Cooperative Credit Structure (STCCS) in the country formulated on the basis of recommendations of Vaidyanathan Committee is presently under implementation with an estimated total financial outlay of Rs. 13596 crore. Under multi-pronged strategy to extend banking facilities in the unbanked rural areas, all Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) have been advised to allocate 25 per cent of the total number of branches to be opened during a year in unbanked rural centres.

Monetary Policy Statement of April 2010, the roadmap to provide banking services in every village having population above 2000, was finalized by State Level Banking Committees (SLBCs). 74,414 villages with population above 2,000 were identified as unbanked, which were allocated to various banks, including RRBs for providing banking services by March 2012. Banks have covered 74,199 (99.7 per cent) of these unbanked villages.

This information was given by Shri Tariq Anwar, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.

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Minimum support prices secure remunerative prices for growers while rural banking expansion extends services to unbanked villages. Minimum support prices are declared seasonally for major commodities to ensure remunerative prices, with procurement by public and cooperative agencies; complementary schemes (RKVY, NFSM, NHM, ISOPOM), market intervention, crop insurance and agriculture credit initiatives support farm income and productivity. A Vaidyanathan Committee-based package to revive Short-Term Cooperative Credit Structure is being implemented with a specified outlay. Banks are directed to allocate a portion of new branches to unbanked rural centres and SLBCs prepared a roadmap to provide banking services to identified unbanked villages, with near-complete coverage reported.