Union Government under the leadership of Sh. Narendra Modi is taking all out efforts to support Indian farmers and agriculture. Ensuring supply of quality seeds, inputs, credit availability, crop insurance are few to list.  This has resulted in large increase in area under rabi crops this year.  

 

Monitoring of rabi crops sowing revealed that as on 09-12-2022, area sown under rabi crops has increased from 457.80  to 526.27 lakh hectares. This difference of 68.47 lakh hectares is 15% more this year compared to corresponding period 2021-22. The increase in area is across all crops; maximum being in wheat. Out of 68.47 lakh hectares increase in all rabi crops, increase in wheat area is 51.85 lakh hectares from 203.91 to 255.76 lakh hectares.

 

Next highest increase in area during rabi is in oilseeds. Area under its cultivation increased by 7.55 lakh hectares from 87.65 lakh hectares during 2021-22 to 95.19 lakh hectares this year. The government focus in on oilseeds to reduce import dependency in edible oils. Out of 7.55 lakh hectares increase in area under oilseeds, rapeseed & mustard alone accounted for 7.17 lakh hectares. This is due to Special Mustard Mission being implemented for last 2 years when  area rapeseed & mustard increased by 17% from 68.56 in 2019-20 to 80.58 lakh ha in 2021-22.  During  Rabi 2022-23. 26.50 lakh Seed Minikits of HYV having yield potential of more than 20 quintals per hectare were distributed to the farmers in 301 districts of 18 States under the National Food Security Mission- Oilseeds.

 

Area under pulses increased by 3.30 lakh hectares from 123.77 to 127.07 lakh hectares.  Gram alone accounted for 2.14 lakh hectares increase out of 3.30 lakh hectares for all pulses. Special programme under National Food Security Mission nicknamed NFSM ‘TMU370’ was launched with aim of increasing productivity of districts having less than state average yields of pulses due to lack of good seed and technological interventions. Based on crop spread and productivity in the districts, 370 districts were focused for cultivation of tur, masoor and urad (TMU). Seed minikits of HYVs to the tune of 19.99 lakh quintals during kharif and 4.54 lakh quintals during rabi season were distributed to farmers.

 

Coarse cum Nutri-cereals saw a jump of 4.34 lakh hectares in area under their cultivation. This year coverage till date is 36.39 lakh hectares compared to 32.05 lakh hectares in 2021-22. This augurs well as United Nations adopted a resolution declaring 2023 the International Year of Millets, as proposed by India to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). India is at the fore front in celebrating the IYoM in a big way.  The higher production of millets will meet the escalated demands for these nutritive grains due to celebration of IYoM

 

‘Government emphasis is on increasing productivity of all crops and for this, seed minikits of HYVs are given free of cost to farmers along with technology support and critical inputs. The increased area coupled with higher productivity will achieve a new milestone in foodgrain production in the country. The farmers income will also increase due to higher production and support for remunerative prices.

The government has asked trade bodies and banks to explore opportunities for trade in rupee with more countries after having facilitated rupee trade with Russia, Mauritius and Sri Lanka.

 

The Indian banks have already opened special vostro rupee accounts (SVRA) with banks of these three nations, operationalising the rupee trade arrangement.

 

SBI Mauritius Ltd and People's Bank of Sri Lanka opened an SVRA with State Bank of India (SBI). In addition, Bank of Ceylon opened an account in its Indian subsidiary in Chennai recently.

 

Union Bank of India has opened special rupee account of Ros Bank Russia while Chennai-based Indian Bank has opened such accounts of three Sri Lankan banks, including Colombo-based NDB Bank and Seylan Bank.

 

In all 18 such special rupee accounts have been opened by 11 banks, including 2 of Russia and one of Sri Lanka, following approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The RBI issued detailed guidelines on cross-border trade transactions in the domestic currency in July.

 

In a recent review meeting with stakeholders, sources said, the finance ministry asked stakeholders to explore more countries and establish this mechanism as part of its plans to expand bilateral trades through SVRAs and internationalise indigenous payment modes.

 

Following the Russia-Ukraine war and the sanctions imposed by the West, India has been trying to promote rupee trade.

 

Since July, Sberbank and VTB Bank -- the largest and second-largest banks of Russia, respectively -- are the first foreign lenders to receive approval after the RBI announced the guidelines.

 

The RBI, as per the guidelines, decided to put in place an additional arrangement for invoicing, payment, and settlement of exports/imports in the rupee.

 

Another Russian bank Gazprombank, which does not have its branch in India, has also opened this account with Kolkata-based UCO Bank.

 

The move to open the special vostro account clears the decks for settlement of payments in rupee for trade between India and Russia, enabling cross-border trade in the Indian currency, which the RBI is keen to promote.

 

The RBI has allowed the special vostro accounts to invest the surplus balance in Indian government securities to help popularise the new arrangement.

 

'Indian importers undertaking imports through this mechanism shall make payment in INR (Indian Rupee), which shall be credited into the special vostro account of the correspondent bank of the partner country, against the invoices for the supply of goods or services from the overseas seller/supplier,' reported PTI citing the RBI.

 

The White House believes that the relationship between India and the United States is strong, a presidential spokesperson said Thursday.

 

We see it as a strong relationship. President (Joe) Biden and all levels of US government are in touch with our Indian partners or their counterparts,' White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre told reporters at her daily news conference.

 

The US relationship with India is strong. That's what we believe, she said in response to a question.

 

We are grateful for their leadership at the last G-20, and look forward to working closely with India as they're new chair of the G-20. So, we also look forward to continue working with India on a range of important regional and global issues as well, Jean-Pierre said.

 

The spokesperson said the Biden Administration continues to seek the confirmation of Los Angele Mayor Eric Garcetti as the US Ambassador to India.

 

We want to see that happen quickly, who was voted...with strong bipartisan support to serve as ambassador to India. We don't have any updates on timing, but we'll continue to push that forward, Jean-Pierre said.

India and Israel's bilateral trade is close to USD 8 billion and the figure does not include defence equipment, said Israel's Ambassador to India Naor Gilon.

In an interview with ANI, Gilon said that the diplomatic relations had started 30 years ago and the two countries had USD 200 million in trade.

 

'When we started full diplomatic relations 30 years ago, we had USD 200 million in trade. So now we are close to USD 8 billion. And this is without defence. Our numbers are quite good going on,' Gilon said.

 

Talking about investments in India, Gilon said that nearly 300 Israeli companies have invested in India. In Pune, Amdocs Israeli company is the biggest Israeli employee here with around 14,000 Indian employees

 

'When Dr Jaishankar was in Israel, he spoke about going forward with FTA. But unfortunately, it's a bit stacked as we are doing so many things in parallel, incl FTAs with other countries. I hope it will be back on track soon & we can finalize the FTA,' Israel Ambassador Naor Gilon said.

 

India and Israel's relationship is friendly and on good terms. In July 2018, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Israel, the first visit by an Indian head of government. During the visit, PM Modi met with Moshe Holzberg. In January 2019, then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was joined by Holzberg and Samuel on a visit to Mumbai, reported The Jerusalem Post.

 

In the area of defence and security, India is now the largest buyer of Israeli military equipment, with exports to India constituting 46 per cent of Israel's total arms exports. Israel is the second largest supplier of military equipment to India after Russia, New Delhi's traditional armorer.

 

The burgeoning relations are not limited to the defence sphere. In the area of agriculture and water management, Indian authorities have partnered with Mashav, Israel's international development organization, to develop methods to cope with an emergent water crisis, reported The Jerusalem Post.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has extended the scope for traders to import rice at reduced tariff by three months to March 31 next year to facilitate increased supply of the staple food and contain its prices in the local market.

 

The NBR made the announcement today through a notification as the scope for importing rice at 15 per cent plus tariff was scheduled to expire on December 31 this year.

 

On August 28 this year, the NBR slashed import duty by 10 percentage points to over 15 per cent to encourage private businesses to go for grain import and curb price hike.

 

The customs authority, on June 23 this year, first slashed import duty for rice import to 25.75 per cent from 62.5 per cent on condition that importers would be able to import the grains with permission from the food ministry.

 

This is the second time the NBR extended the deadline.

 

'We have issued the notification in line with the food ministry's recommendation and stabilise the food grains market,' said a senior official of the NBR.

The government is likely to off-load 2–3 million tonne (MT) of wheat under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) from the Food Corporation of India (FCI)’s stocks to bulk buyers soon to curb rising prices of the grains.

 

Sources told FE the FCI has fixed Rs 2250 a quintal (excluding transportation cost) as the OMSS price. The FCI’s open market sales stood at 7 mt in 2021-22 and 2.5 mt in 2020-21.

 

At the beginning of the month, FCI’s wheat stock was 18.3 MT against the buffer norm of 13.8 MT for January 1. A year back, wheat stocks were at 37.8 MT.

 

'Proposal to offer wheat to bulk buyers from FCI stock is under consideration,' a food ministry official said and a decision is likely to be taken early next month.

 

The corporation had earlier stopped sale of wheat in the open market from its stocks for the first time more than a decade in view of a sharp drop in procurement in 2022-23 rabi marketing season and additional allocations of the grain under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY).

 

Sources said that as per latest assessment, the wheat stocks held with FCI by April 1, 2023 would be a comfortable 11.3 MT against a buffer of 7.4 MT. This is based on the assumption that the free ration scheme – PMGKAY is not extended beyond December 31, 2022.

 

According to assessment, if free ration scheme is extended for eight time beyond January 1, 20223, FCI’s wheat stock is projected to fall below the buffer to 9.2 MT on April 1, 2023

 

Wheat will be offered to small flour millers across all the depots in smaller quantities while in the previous years, when the grain used to be offered to large buyers from depots in Punjab.

 

The FCI usually follows Minimum Support Price (MSP) and freight cost to the delivery points from Punjab as cost for OMSS.

 

According to the department of consumer affairs’ price monitoring cell data, the modal retail price of wheat and flour (atta) on Thursday rose to Rs 28/kg and Rs 35/kg, respectively, from Rs 23/kg and Rs 28/kg three months ago.

 

Wheat retail inflation rose by 17.6% in October 2022 on year.

 

The wheat output in the 2021-22 crop year (July-June), as per the agriculture ministry, has declined by around 3% on year to 106.8 mt because of heat waves during the flowering stage of the crop in March.

 

Due lower production and higher global demand, FCI’s procurement in 2022-23 season fell by more than 56.6% to only 18.8 MT against 43.3 MT purchased from the farmers in the previous year.

One District One Product (ODOP) initiative operationally merged with ‘Districts as Export Hub (DEH)’ initiative of DGFT, Department of Commerce, with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) as a major stakeholder, said the Minister of state for Commerce and Industry, Som Parkash on Wednesday. 

 

Responding to a parliament question, the minister said that the central government initiated OPOP in all states/UTs of the country as a transformational step to realize the potential of a district, fuel economic growth, generate employment and rural entrepreneurship and move towards the goal of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’. 

 

'The initiative is aimed at fostering balanced regional development across all districts of the country, enabling holistic socio-economic growth across all regions. The objective is to focus on district of the country as unit for converting into a manufacturing and export hub by identifying products with export potential in the district,' said the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. 

 

In this context, the Districts Export Action Plans include specific actions required to support local exporters / manufacturers in producing / manufacturing identified products in adequate quantity and with the requisite quality, for reaching potential buyers outside India, thereby creating economic value. 

 

These plans also include identifying and addressing challenges for exports of such identified products/services, improving supply chains, market accessibility and handholding for increasing exports, paving way for employment generation. 

 

'The ODOP initiative is identified for the prestigious Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration in Holistic Development through One District One Product (ODOP) category in April, 2022,' the ministry added.

Krishi Udan Scheme 2.0 was announced on 27 October 2021 enhancing the existing provisions, mainly focusing on transporting perishable food products from the hilly areas, North-Eastern States and tribal areas. For facilitating and incentivising movement of agri-produce by air transportation, Airports Authority of India (AAI) provides full waiver of Landing, Parking, Terminal Navigational Landing Charges (TNLC) and Route Navigation Facility Charges (RNFC) for Indian freighters and P2C (Passenger-to-Cargo) Aircraft. The scheme primarily covers around 25 airports focusing on North Eastern, Hilly and Tribal region besides 28 airports in other regions/areas. After evaluation of Krishi Udan 2.0, five more airports have been included making it to total 58 airports.

 

Krishi Udan Scheme is a convergence scheme where eight Ministries/Departments namely Ministry of Civil Aviation, Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region would leverage their existing schemes to strengthen the logistics for transportation of Agri-produce. There is no specific budget allocation under Krishi Udan Scheme.;

 

The main objective of the Krishi Udan Scheme 2.0 is to increase share of air carriage in the modal mix for transportation of Agri-produce, which includes horticulture, fishery, livestock and processed products. The scheme assists farmers in transporting agriculture products so that it improves their value realisation.

 

Initially 53 Airports were covered in the pilot project for 06 months. Thereafter, during the review, 05 more Airports were added thus total covered are 58 Airports namely, Adampur, Agartala, Agatti, Agra, Amritsar, Bagdogra, Bareli, Bhuj, Bhuntar, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Dibrugarh, Dimapur, Gaggal, Goa, Gorakhpur, Hindon, Imphal, Indore, Jaisalmer, Jammu, Jamnagar, Jodhpur, Jorhat, Kanpur, Kolkata, Leh, Lengpui, Lilabari, Nashik, Pakyong, Pantnagar, Pathankot, Patna, Pithoragarh, Port-Blair, Prayagraj, Pune, Raipur, Rajkot, Ranchi, Rupsi, Shillong, Shimla, Silchar, Srinagar, Tezpur, Tezu, Thiruvananthapuram, Tiruchirappalli, Varanasi, Visakhapatnam, Belagavi, Bhopal, Darbhanga, Jabalpur and Jharsuguda.

 

Krishi Udan scheme is to provide air transportation and logistics support for perishable agri-produce as per the need. Leveraging the existing schemes of the 8 Ministries as mentioned above, the producers can utilise the services available at 58 airports listed under the scheme considering the demand.

 

The Scheme aims to ensure seamless, cost-effective, time bound, air transportation and associated logistics for all Agri-produce originating especially from North-East, hilly and tribal regions of the country. Few successful examples are air transportation of ‘King Chillies, Burmese Grapes & Assamese Lemon’ from Gauwahati, ‘Jackfruit’ from Tripura and ‘Litchi’ from Darbhanga.

Union Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Shri Giriraj Singh, convened a consultation meeting on ‘Cactus Plantation and its Economic Usage’ today in New Delhi.  The meeting was attended by Ambassador of Chile, Mr. Juan Angulo M; Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Morocco, Mr. Errachid Alaoui Mrani; Head of Energy Division, Embassy of Brazil, Mrs. Carolina Saito; Agricultural Attache, Embassy of Brazil, Mr. Angelo Mauricio.  Indian Ambassadors of these countries also attended the meeting through VC.

 

Fourteen experts of various countries like, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Morocco, Tunisia, Italy, South Africa and India also attended the meeting through VC.  Secretaries of Department of Land Resources (DoLR), Ministry of External Affairs, Department of Rural Development, and representatives of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) & International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and other senior officials were also present.

 

India has approximately 30% of its geographical area under the category of degraded land.  DoLR has been mandated to restore degraded lands through its Watershed Development Component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (WDC-PMKSY).  Plantations of various kinds constitute one of the activities which help in restoration of degraded lands. Union Minister of Rural Development Shri Singh desired that various options for taking up Cactus plantation on degraded land should be explored for realising the benefits of its usage for bio-fuel, food, fodder and bio-fertiliser production for the larger benefit of the country.  The Minister is of the view that bio-fuel production will reduce the fuel import burden of the country apart from contributing towards employment and income generation for the poor farmers of these areas.

 

Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Land Areas (ICARDA) are being roped in for setting up a pilot project in Amlaha Farm of ICARDA in Madhya Pradesh.  Ministry of Petroleum has been requested to provide necessary technical assistance in this venture. 

 

Cactus is a Xerophytic Plant which though grows relatively at a slower pace has an immense potential as stated above.  Moreover, it will help in achieving Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the country as well. The Department is of the view that cactus plantation will be picked up by the farmers of degraded land areas, if the benefits outweigh their existing level of incomes.  Experiences of countries like Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Morocco and various others are being explored which will be of great help for realisation of the objective.

Leading a high level delegation, Swedish Minister for Foreign Trade, Johan Forssell is in India on a two-day visit and the focus during meetings is to be on strengthening the bilateral trade relations.

 

This is his first official trip to India and to Asia, after having been appointed as Minister in Sweden’s new Government earlier this year on October 18, 2022.

 

Besides meeting his counterpart, the Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal, the Swedish minister will also meet India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant and the talks will be on the upcoming presidencies of Sweden and India of the EU and G20 respectively. 

 

He is leading the delegation at the 20th Indo-Swedish Joint Commission for Economic, Industrial and Scientific Cooperation and this will be followed by a business roundtable with representatives of companies of both companies.

 

The business delegation accompanying the minister has CEOs and chairpersons of Swedish companies like: SAAB, Ericsson, AstraZeneca, Perstorp and Getinge.

 

India & Sweden

 

Both countries have a robust multifaceted bilateral cooperation in various sectors including Green Transition, Innovation, and Health Care. And more than 250 Swedish companies are present in India, and around 200,000 Indians are directly employed in Swedish companies.  A number of Swedish companies have been present in India for a century and around 2.2 million Indians are indirectly employed with Swedish business. In 2023 the two countries will celebrate 75 years of diplomatic relations.

 

There have been regular high-level engagements and interactions including bilateral meetings between the top leadership of both countries in Copenhagen in May 2022. In 2021 there was a virtual summit level meeting between the Prime Ministers in March 2021 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Sweden in 2018.

 

Ahead of his visit Minister Johan Forssell had said that the two countries shared comprehensive trade ties and 'We see a vast scope for expanding and diversifying our collaboration in the area of trade and investment, focusing on innovation, sustainability and green transition.'