Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare and Rural Development Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that since independence, the Prime Minister has been hoisting the flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort, but earlier no government had invited farmers on Independence Day because farmers were never in the priority of previous governments. Shri Chouhan thanked and congratulated Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi who invited farmers on Independence Day. Shri Chouhan was addressing the program of dialogue with farmers invited to the Independence Day program and the launch of National Pest Surveillance System (NPSS). Ministers of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shri Ram Nath Thakur and Shri Bhagirath Choudhary and Secretary DARE and DG, ICA,R Dr. Himanshu Pathak were also present in the program.

Paying his respects to the immortal revolutionaries, Shri Chouhan said that we all know that freedom was not presented to us on a silver platter. Thousands of people went to the gallows smilingly. They had a strong resolve in their hearts and they prayed to be given birth again on this land so that they could be of use to Mother India. Our immortal revolutionaries used to sing songs of freedom. Today, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi said that today there is no need to die for the country, but to live. Farmer brothers from every village of the country have come to the Independence Day celebrations. Farmers are the heartbeat of the country and the heartbeat of the people. Everyone's heart is beating because of what the farmers produce. Farmers are God for us. We have to make the food providers happy and prosperous. When Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister, he paid his respects to the farmers in every speech.

The Union Agriculture Minister said that we will do 6 types of work under the leadership of the Prime Minister - Increasing production. We need to increase production, for that we need seeds. Recently, the Prime Minister dedicated 109 types of high yielding seeds to farmers. Farmers should be aware of the research done by scientists. Our job is to connect farmers and scientists. Many times, farmers do not have information, so they use the wrong pesticides. It is important to know about this. To ensure that farmers get the benefits of science immediately, we will start a program called Kisano Ki Baat once a month. This program will be on radio, scientists will sit in it, officials of the agriculture department will sit, he will also sit and farmers will be given information about whatever is necessary. There is a need to connect the Krishi Vijyan Kendra completely with the farmers. The work will be done to immediately deliver scientific benefits to the farmers. Now soon there will be discussions with scientists and discussions among farmers, so that we can do the miracle of becoming a food basket through agriculture.

Shri Chouhan informed that earlier the budget for farmers was only Rs. 27 thousand crores, the Prime Minister increased this budget to Rs. 1.52 lakh crores. Farmers get fertilizers on subsidy. Nowadays, those people talk about farmers who have nothing to do with farming. They have not seen the fields, have not seen the crop in the field, they do not even know what a wheat ear looks like.

The Union Agriculture Minister said that the government will buy all the tur, masoor, urad that the farmers grow. In the earlier times, there was no purchase at all,  in the earlier government, only 6 lakh metric tons of pulses were purchased while the Modi government purchased 1.70 crore metric tons of pulses. Under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, so far Rs. 3.24 lakh crore has been deposited in the accounts of farmers. PM Fasal Bima Yojna is the world's largest crop insurance scheme today. He will continuously try to keep improving it. We have to diversify agriculture. Farmers will benefit more from this.

Shri Chouhan requested to the farmers to do natural farming in some part of their fields to improve the soil health. Shri Chouhan informed that a mission on this is coming very soon; its outline has been prepared. More FPOs should be formed. Through this, we can increase our income by doing many types of work. Shri Chouhan urged the farmers to start a new era under the leadership of our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

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SS