You also have my heartfelt greetings on this sacred festival of Diwali, and with the programme of Chhathi Maiya also approaching, I extend my very best wishes for that as well. My greetings to all of you.

Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of the India Today Group, Shri Arun Puri ji, the agricultural scientists, agri-entrepreneurs, farmer friends, and all distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen who have come from across the country for this programme.

First of all, I wholeheartedly congratulate the India Today Group for this innovative initiative. When the country launched the cleanliness campaign, the India Today Group participated in it very enthusiastically. Now you have organised this Kisan Mela, and dedicated two full days to it. This is a very positive beginning. I congratulate all of you. And Arun ji speaks such excellent Hindi, so double congratulations for that.

Friends,

This event is taking place at a time when the country is in a festive mood. Two or three days ago, we celebrated the festival of Diwali, and now the spirit of the Chhath Mahaparva is all around us. The festival of Chhath is deeply connected with agricultural life, and in our country, most festivals are linked with farming and agriculture. Bihu, Pongal, Onam, Baisakhi, Sarhul, Pola, many such festivals are connected with agriculture. In other words, farming is our culture, our tradition, and the foundation of our social life.

Friends,

From the Red Fort, I had spoken about the seven streams of strength for a Viksit India, and among these, agriculture is a principal stream. Building a Viksit India is simply not possible without developing agriculture, without making farming smarter, and without empowering farmers. That is why the importance of such farmer conferences becomes even greater.

Friends,

You can understand the relationship between farming and the country's progress through two important facts. Recently, a World Bank study on poverty was released, and it is being discussed across the world. It states that within just 12–13 years, 50 crore poor people in India have defeated poverty. It also states that poverty has declined very rapidly in villages. This means that a large number of small farmers and agricultural labourers have overcome poverty. Now look at the coincidence. During the past decade, India's agricultural growth rate has remained above 4 percent. This is the first decade after Independence in which the country's agriculture sector has achieved an average growth rate of more than 4 percent, for the first time since Independence. And during this same period, a large number of poor people in villages have defeated poverty. But unfortunately, people trapped in angles and agendas of news coverage fail to notice this achievement of the country.

Friends,

Those engaged in farming and experts connected with agriculture know how necessary continuous change in agricultural policies and methods is. Those who governed for decades became satisfied merely because the country's farmers had filled the grain warehouses of the nation. But what did farmers receive after that? Merely filling grain warehouses is not enough. Over time, the world changed, markets changed, people's needs changed, eating habits changed, the weather changed, and technology changed. Along with these changes, we needed to empower our farmers in a new way. But earlier, even this was not given attention.

Friends,

Over the past decade, the country took steps to match this pace, and the results are before all of us. Today, India exports agricultural products worth more than four lakh crore rupees every year, and this money is increasing the income of our farmers. Today, India is number one in the world in milk production. Today, India is number one in pulse production. India is number one in jute production. India has also become number one in rice production. It is number two in the world in wheat production. It is number two in the production of cotton, fruits, and vegetables. It is number two in fish production, and India is also the world's largest producer of millets. These are not just statistics. They show how much the capability of India's farmers has grown.

Friends,

One more thing is necessary for the prosperity of India's farmers. It is necessary that they do not remain dependent only on traditional crops such as wheat, rice, and sugarcane. I repeat, farmer brothers should not remain dependent only on wheat, rice, and sugarcane. Therefore, the government is also placing emphasis on other crops and other activities related to agriculture. Let me remind the India Today Group of something. The word “revolution”, kranti, is something the India Today Group is particularly fond of. Therefore, I am now going to talk about a few revolutions.

Friends,

There was a time when the country took a historic step towards self-reliance in food grain production through the Green Revolution. After that, the White Revolution made India the world's largest milk producer. Today, I will give you some more figures that show how this journey is now moving forward with remarkable momentum. Over the past decade, India's milk production has increased by nearly 70 percent, 70 percent. Egg production has also increased by nearly 90 percent, 90 percent. And if we talk about the Blue Revolution, India's fish production has more than doubled in a decade. New opportunities have emerged in the field of beekeeping through the Sweet Revolution. Honey production has increased from around 80 thousand tonnes to 150 thousand tonnes. In horticulture as well, India's production has increased from 280 million tonnes to more than 350 million tonnes.

Friends,

When we connect all these revolutions with a broader vision, multiple sources of income are created for the country's farmers, and this is very essential for the future of agriculture. Let me give you another example. Another revolution, the solar power revolution. This revolution has transformed the food provider into an energy provider. Under the PM-KUSUM Scheme, nearly 12 lakh solar pumps have already been distributed. This is reducing farmers' electricity bills, and farmers have also begun earning income by installing solar plants on their fields. Along with production, we have also focused on productivity and on farmers' profits.

Friends,

Recently, I completed 25 years as the head of government. When I was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, I was continuously working to modernise agriculture even then. At that time, I started large agricultural festivals. I remember that in May and June, in temperatures of 40–45 degrees Celsius, hundreds of agricultural scientists, agricultural experts, and progressive farmers would come together. We would prepare Kisan Raths and travel in them. We would go to villages and to fields. We would visit farmers' fields and interact directly with them. What type of soil the area had, what the availability of water was, which crops could perform well there, what kind of farming was required, every such issue would be discussed directly with farmers. Our effort was that the knowledge present in scientists' laboratories should directly reach farmers' fields. In other words, we moved forward with the concept of Lab to Land, and Gujarat's farmers benefited greatly from it.

Friends,

The experience from my Gujarat days has been extremely useful after coming to the central government. In 2014, there were only a few hundred soil-testing laboratories in the country. Today, their number has increased to more than 8,400. Just as pathology laboratories are expanding in medical science, today soil-testing laboratories are expanding. Today, there are more than 750 Krishi Vigyan Kendras across the country. We are also prioritising the protection of animals from diseases. To protect livestock from Foot and Mouth Disease, more than eight crore farmers' animals have received free vaccinations. During COVID, we provided free vaccines, and everyone remembers that. But this is Modi; he provides free vaccines even to animals.

Friends,

Often, some people with old ways of thinking believe that the use of large-scale technology will not be possible in our villages. The Namo Drone Didis have proved such people wrong. Once, while speaking with all the Drone Didis through video conferencing, I was talking to a daughter from a village, perhaps in Jharkhand. She told me, “Now my status has changed.” I asked, “Why?” She said, “The entire village calls me a pilot, and even my younger brothers-in-law call me ‘Pilot Bhabhi’.” Just imagine how much self-respect increases. At present, the Namo Drone Didis are using drones for spraying fertilisers and pesticides. Now the scope of their use is also being expanded.

Friends,

Today’s India is also expanding the role of engineering in agriculture. Our agricultural scientists, engineers, and youth are together developing such tools and machines that are reducing the cost of farming. In some places, machines are being developed that are making sowing and harvesting easier. And I would especially like to urge the people from industry present here, those engaged in manufacturing equipment for farmers, as well as our startup founders, that whatever equipment you build from now on should be powered by solar energy, because we are taking solar power to every farm. Just as the whole world has now rushed towards electric vehicles, I am in favour of making every type of agricultural tool solar-powered. And I am also making considerable efforts in that direction. But I would urge all MSMEs and small-scale industries to focus on this. This is going to become a very large area of revolution. Not only that, sensor-based equipment equipped with AI technology is now being developed that can provide precise information to farmers and can be affordable even for the smallest farmers. Arrangements are now being developed for soil testing through mobile phones. You simply place a little soil on the mobile-based device, and your phone immediately provides a report identifying which crop your soil is suitable for, how much fertilizer is required, and what type of fertilizer is needed. In other words, just see how rapidly change is taking place. Today, from agricultural engineering to agri-startups, India is full of opportunities. We must transform our food providers into agri-preneurs, that is, agricultural entrepreneurs. Work is now progressing rapidly across the country on how value addition can take place right where production happens.

Friends,

In the past few years, small farmers, working together with the government, have built a large network of 10,000 FPOs, that is, Farmer Producer Organizations. These are turning groups of small farmers into value creators and connecting them with the food-processing business. I clearly remember one incident from my days in Gujarat. In Gujarat, we introduced the Jyotigram Yojana. We separated agricultural feeders from domestic feeders and began supplying as much electricity to farmers as possible. This greatly benefited farmers. There are some villages near Gandhinagar where most people cultivate chillies. But farmers there faced a problem. If production increased, prices would fall, and if production declined, earnings would decline. They suffered in both situations. If too many chillies were produced, they could not sell them. But after the arrival of electricity through the Jyotigram Yojana, they started converting chillies into red chilli powder. They packaged that powder, got advertisements made, printed photographs of personalities on the packaging, and began selling chilli powder on a large scale. Through this value addition, they became highly successful earners. Earlier, they could not even obtain a proper price for their chillies, but now their products became brands. This shows what becomes possible when attention is given to every small aspect. Efforts to connect small farmers with export markets are also progressing rapidly.

Friends,

Our policy and our intent are absolutely clear. It is our priority that farming should not become a burden on farmers. To ensure affordable fertilizers for farmers, the country has spent ₹16 lakh crore over the last 12 years. Friends, this is an enormous figure. Sixteen lakh crore rupees is more than the annual budget of many countries. Amid the war currently taking place around Iran and the Gulf countries, a bag of DAP fertilizer that costs ₹5,000 is being made available to Indian farmers for only ₹1,300. A bag of urea that costs ₹3,000 in the international market is being provided to Indian farmers for less than ₹300.

Friends,

I would like to mention one more subject, and I have spoken about this before as well. For your network, what I am about to say today is exclusive.

Friends,

When the war situation in West Asia was escalating, the price of crude oil rose from 70 dollars to 122 dollars per barrel within just a few weeks. At that time, India also faced a major challenge. India was in a situation where diesel prices should have been increased by at least ₹50 per litre. An increase of ₹50 per litre had become necessary. At that time, the government took a decision in the interest of farmers. We decided that the full burden of the shock in international markets would not be passed on to citizens and farmers. The government increased diesel prices by only ₹7 per litre, whereas the required increase was ₹50. The government itself absorbed a burden of ₹43 per litre. In neighbouring countries as well, diesel prices had increased by 40 to 50 percent. But that did not happen in India. Since then and up to today, the government has been bearing a loss of ₹14,000 crore every month. Every month. Yet we did not allow harm to come to the country's farmers. When the welfare of farmers is the highest priority, when there is a spirit of Citizen Devo Bhava, such sensitive decisions are taken.

Friends,

Amid so many discussions about the national interest, I am sure the people of Aaj Tak must be wondering that no negative headline has emerged so far. So perhaps now we should discuss something that can become a headline. Until now, I have been talking about the country, and perhaps that has not attracted as much media attention. So now let me talk about controversy.

Friends,

Nowadays, some people pull the Constitution out of their pockets. The country understands very well what they are doing. They seem to think that the nation's Constitution and democracy are sitting in their pocket. Even while not being in power, they remain intoxicated with the mindset of power. But when these very people were in power, what were their actions like? Let me narrate a small incident.

Friends,

You may remember that there was a time when people in the media used to rank the best-performing states. In one such ranking related to the economy, Gujarat was ranked number one, and at that time I was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. The institution that gave Gujarat the number one ranking was named after a former Prime Minister of India. That hint is enough; you can find the name yourselves. This ranking was based on research conducted by some of the country's most respected economists. But the people sitting in power in Delhi did not like Gujarat receiving that recognition. They formally instructed those conducting the research that things could not continue this way. They said that from then onward, no report could be published without their approval first.

Friends,

That was the situation then, and today those very people go around delivering lectures on tolerance and democracy. And when exactly did this happen? What happened after that? You can research and find those details yourselves. Let me now move towards concluding my remarks.

Friends,

Without doubt, the achievements of the country’s farmers over the past years have been remarkable. To build a Viksit India, we now have to expand our efforts even further. We must create a future where farmers are prosperous, villages are prosperous, and agriculture is modern and profitable. I am confident that the deliberations taking place here will benefit the country. The government will also work upon the best suggestions and solutions that emerge from here. And since I have come among you today, I would certainly like to make one appeal. At the beginning, Anjana ji said in her introductory remarks that farmers are connected to two things: the food provider and Mother Earth. I want to ask my farmer brothers and sisters: are we really protecting this Mother Earth of ours? Ask yourselves honestly. The way we are destroying Mother Earth through excessive use of chemicals, and we are her children. We are killing this mother before our own eyes. If we do not wake up in time, if we do not make efforts to save Mother Earth, then the mother who nourishes us today may one day leave our hands. Such a situation could arise. That is why the government has emphasized natural farming. Those who have experimented with natural farming have achieved great success. A single cow can provide sufficient manure for natural farming on 30 acres of land. No chemical inputs are required. Many such subjects must have emerged during your discussions today. Therefore, I appeal to all farmers that we should move towards chemical-free farming. I am not talking about organic farming; I am talking about natural farming, and every farmer can adopt it easily. We can take steps to save our soil by becoming free from chemicals. One challenge with our farmer brothers and sisters is that until they see something with their own eyes, they do not accept it. No matter how many long speeches are delivered, farmers do not simply accept something. They believe only after seeing it. Otherwise, all that stays in their minds is that they must apply the yellow powder, use the green bottle, use the green container, bring the red container, and if the neighbour uses two bags, they will use two bags too; if the neighbour uses four sacks, they will use four sacks too. This is the responsibility of all of us, and especially of progressive farmers, to free them from this mindset. We must help them move towards chemical-free natural farming. The first task is to save our Mother Earth. This mother is capable of providing everything we need. She will never let us feel any shortage, provided we protect her. We are the children of Mother Earth. It is our duty to fulfil this responsibility as her sons and daughters, as the children of Mother Earth. With this confidence, I extend my best wishes to all of you. I also congratulate the India Today Group. You have undertaken a task that will greatly help the nation in the years ahead.

Thank you very much.

DISCLAIMER: This is the approximate translation of the Prime Minister’s address. Original address was delivered in Hindi.

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MJPS/SS/VJ/ST

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