Wednesday, 7 February 2018

Economic survey 2017 - 18 (volume 2) - chapter 7 key points


Economic survey 2017 – 2018 (volume 2) – chapter 7 key points

·        India ranks first, with 179.8 Mha (9.6 percent of the global net cropland area) of net cropland area according to United States Geological Survey 2017.

·        The Gross Capital Formation (GCF) in Agriculture and Allied Sectors relative to GVA in this sector has been showing a fluctuating trend from 18.2 per cent in 2011-12 to 16.4 per cent in 2015-16.

·        The Gross Capital Formation in agriculture and allied sectors as a proportion to the total GCF showed a decline from 8.3 per cent in 2014-2015 to 7.8 per cent in 2015-16. This decline can be attributed to reduction in private investment.

·        The Index of Crop Diversification has been computed for major States and All India to examine whether there has been major changes in the cropping patterns across States. The index value ranges between 0 and 1 and higher the value, greater the diversification.

·        In order to promote Seed Replacement Rate (SRR) and Varietal Replacement Rate (VRR), Seed Project entitled, “Seed Production in Agricultural Crops” is being implemented.

·        The all India percentage of net irrigated area to total cropped area was 34.5 per cent, which makes a large segment of cultivation dependent on rainfall.

·        Government launched the Prime Minister’s Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) in 2015. PMKSY has been approved for implementation across the country with an outlay of Rs.50,000 crore in five years.

·        PMKSY Scheme is being implemented in the mission mode with the help of Command Area Development to complete 99 major and medium irrigation projects covering 76.0 lakh hectares in a phased manner by December 2019.

·        Indian tractor industries have emerged as the largest in the world and account for about one-third of total global tractor production.

·        According to the World Bank estimates, half of the Indian population would be urban by the year 2050. It is estimated that percentage of agricultural workers of total work force would drop to 25.7 per cent by 2050 from 58.2 per cent in 2001.

·        Not aware about the crop insurance’ was the most prominent reason reported by the cultivating agricultural households for not insuring their crops during the two halves of the agricultural year July 2012-June 2013.

·        Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), which is a yield index based crop insurance scheme launched in 2016, has made substantial progress with more ground coverage compared to erstwhile schemes. PMFBY provides comprehensive coverage of risks from pre-sowing to post harvest against natural non-preventable risks.

·        The electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) that was launched by Government on April, 2016 aims at integrating the dispersed APMCs through an electronic platform and enable price discovery in a competitive manner, to the advantage of the farmers.

·        The Government is keen to double the income of the farmers by 2022, for which it has launched several new initiatives that encompass activities from seed to marketing. The credit from institutional sources will complement all such government initiatives like Soil Health Card, Input Management, Per Drop More Crop in Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY), PMFBY, e-NAM, etc.

·        With a view to make receipt of foodgrains under TPDS a legal right, Government of India has enacted NFSA which came into force w.e.f. 5th July, 2013. The Act provides for coverage of upto 75 per cent of the rural population and upto 50 per cent of the urban population for receiving subsidized foodgrains under Targeted Public Distribution System(TPDS), thus covering about two-third of the population. The eligible persons identified by the States/UTs are entitled to receive 5 kg of foodgrains per person per month at subsidized prices of Rs.3/2/1 per kg for rice/wheat/nutri-grains (coarse grains).

·        The existing Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) households, which constitute the poorest of the poor, continue to receive 35 kg of foodgrains per household per month.

·        The Economic Cost of foodgrains consists of three components, namely, pooled cost of grains, procurement incidentals and the cost of distribution. Pooled cost of food grains is the weighted MSP of the stock of foodgrains available with FCI at the time of calculating the economic cost.

·        FCI on the instructions from the Government sells excess stocks out of Central Pool through Open Market Sale Scheme (Domestic) [OMSS (D)] in the open market from time to time at predetermined prices to achieve the following objectives:-
I.                To enhance the supply of food grains during the lean season and deficit regions
II.                To moderate the open market prices
III.                To offload the excess stocks
IV.                To reduce the carrying cost of food grains



For Economic survey 2017 -18 volume 2 chapter 10 key points - click here