PM Kisan Amount: Ajay Vir Jakhar, Chairman of Bharat Krishak Samaj, emphasized the need to promote agricultural productivity and farmer welfare.
PM Kisan Samman Nidhi: If you are a farmer by profession or someone in your family is directly associated with farming, then this news is of your use. Yes, on Saturday, farmer representatives discussed many important issues with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman before the budget (Budget 2025). During this, in a conversation with the Finance Minister, farmer representatives appealed to the government to provide cheap long term loans, impose less tax and double the amount of PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi.
Demand to promote Kisan Welfare Fund
In the two-hour long conversation with farmer representatives, proposals were discussed in detail with the aim of resolving many challenges in the agriculture sector. The main demands in this were to focus on financial relief, market reforms and strategic investments. Ajay Vir Jakhar, Chairman, Bharat Krishak Samaj, emphasized the need to promote agricultural productivity and farmer welfare.
Demand to reduce interest rate to 1 percent
During this time, the major demands made to the Finance Minister included reducing the interest rate on agriculture loan to 1 percent and increasing the installment of PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi from Rs 6,000 to Rs 12,000 annually. Farmer organizations also demanded zero premium crop insurance for small farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. Under taxation reform, stakeholders demanded GST exemption on agricultural machinery, fertilizers, seeds and medicines.
Demand to reduce GST from 18 to 5 percent
The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry demanded to reduce GST on pesticides from 18 percent to 5 percent. Jakhar proposed a targeted investment strategy of Rs 1,000 crore annually for eight years. It focuses on specific crops like soybean and mustard to increase national agricultural productivity. Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) president Dharmendra Malik demanded a review of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) mechanism, demanding inclusion of land rent, agricultural wages and post-harvest expenses.
They demanded display of prices of agricultural machinery on company websites, improvement in mandi infrastructure, expansion of MSP coverage beyond 23 commodities, not allowing imports below MSP level and fixing minimum export price in case of emergency. RG Aggarwal, Chairman (Agri Business Committee), PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, demanded reduction of GST on pesticides from 18 to 5 percent.
