To celebrate and commemorate 75 years of progressive India and its glorious history, the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ is being celebrated by every State, Ministry and Department in various ways. Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav embodies all that is progressive about India's socio-cultural and economic identity. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has urged people to celebrate this festival for 75 weeks with the sole purpose of leading the country on the path of development and benefit the people of our nation. The Ministry of Food Processing Industries organized "Food Processing Week" from 6^th September 2021 to 12^th September 2021 as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

With the aim to provide modern infrastructure facilities for Food Processing Industries along the value chain from farm to the market, 21 food processing projects were inaugurated by the Union Minister for Food Processing Industries, Shri Pashupati Kumar Paras and Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel.

The total cost of these projects is Rs. 416.59 crore, and the Ministry approved a grant-in-aid of Rs. 104.21 crore for these projects. These projects will ensure value addition, longer shelf life for farm produce, better price realization for farmers, an excellent storage facility and an alternate market for farmers in the region. These projects will also provide direct and indirect employment to about 7,500 persons and benefit about 32,000 farmers in the CPC and PPC catchment areas.

During the pandemic, the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, launched the PMFME scheme for micro and unorganized entrepreneurs in the food processing sector. Under the PMFME scheme, Seed Capital was released to the members of self-help groups in various states. During the Food Processing Week, 4,709 members of SHGs across the country were provided financial assistance amounting to over Rs. 13.41 crores as seed capital.

Along with this, a total number of 7 online-offline webinars and workshops on processing and value addition were organized by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries on food products like honey, milk, bakery etc. under 'One District One Product'. The success story of the PMFME Scheme beneficiaries were also published on the Ministry's website in the 'Atmanirbhar Enterprises' series. Tales of 7 entrepreneurs and their ventures were shared with the readers and were highly appreciated.

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries also carried out an awareness campaign on processed food products on social media throughout the last week, the sole purpose of which was to eradicate the misconceptions related to processed food among the common people. Social media posts, in the form of infographics and videos, were widely shared.

Details of the projects inaugurated throughout the week -

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SNC/PK/RR