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Pib

1. 100 million Soil Health Card distributed to farmers in the first phase (2015-2017): Agriculture Minister

Shri Singh said that Soil Health Card is prepared in 14 local languages and distributed to the farmers. The Minister expressed happiness over the preparation of SHC in the local dialect. Now the SHC can be prepared in local dialects such as Kumaoni, Garhwali, Khasi, and Garo. He said that farmers should use nutrients on their farms as per the recommendations in the card. This will reduce the cost of production and increase the output and income of the farmers.

The Agriculture Minister informed that the SHC portal has been linked to the Integrated Fertilizer Management System (iFMS) and distribution of fertilizers has started in 16 districts on the basis Soil Health Card recommendation as a pilot scheme. It is worth mentioning that on the Occasion of World Soil Day, programs are being organized in all the districts at the state level to generate awareness about Soil Health. Talking about the progress of SHC distribution in Haryana, the Minister informed that in the first phase, the aim was to distribute SHC to 43.6 lakh farmers and so far 28.92 lakh farmers have been provided SHC. The remaining are being distributed. To promote SHC, various initiatives are being organized by state governments and ICAR, its institutions and Krishi Vigyan Kendras to promote Soil Health Card scheme.

Shri Singh said that SHC informs farmers about nutrients status of the soils along with the recommendation on appropriate dosage of nutrients to improve soil health and fertility. A farm will get the soil card once in every 2 years so that nutrients deficiency can be regularly detected and improved. He said that the imbalanced use of fertilizers damages the fields and reduces production. The Minister informed that in the first phase (2015-17) 100 million SHCs have been distributed so far. The aim of the Ministry is to provide SHC to all 120 million farm holdings by December, 2017. The second phase began on May 1, 2017, and will continue for the year 2017 to 2019.

2. India taken up the initiative for the establishment of 150 Seed Hubs for pulses: Shri Singh

Union Agriculture Minister said that at present ICARDA collaborates with 8 ICAR institutions and 15 State Agricultural Universities, and has introduced several thousand landraces, wild species and newly developed breeding lines to India of the its mandated crops, and shared with its partners. Shri Singh further informed that India remains one of the biggest global importers of ICARDA germplasm for research.

Shri Singh said this year, India-ICARDA collaboration peaked another level when the Union Cabinet of India, chaired by the hon’ble Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi, approved granting an international status under the United Nations (Privileges and Immunities) Act, 1947, to ICARDA in India, and supported the establishment of Satellite Hubs in West Bengal (exclusively for pulses) and Rajasthan (for NRM research on forages including spineless cactus, management of rangelands and silvi-pasture, developing models for improving crop-water productivity and conservation agriculture).

3. Release of Mid-Tem Review of Foreign Trade Policy 2015-2020 – Annual Incentives Increased by 2 percent amounting to over Rs. 8,000 crore for labour intensive/MSME sectors

Shri Prabhu in his keynote address, said that the FTP will leverage the long term advantages of the historic reform of the GST, in terms of reduced compliance and logistics costs. The FTP will focus on exports from labour intensive and MSME sectors by way of increased incentives in order to increase employment opportunities. Emphasis will be given on ‘Ease of Trading’ across borders. Information based policy interventions will be ensured through a State-of-the-Art Trade Analytics Division. While share in traditional products and markets will be maintained, the focus will be on new products and new markets. The Commerce Minister focused on transparency and trust with the industry and maintenance of Quality Standards to succeed in the international market.

The Finance Secretary emphasized that the Government has been very sensitive towards exporters. The Export Package was approved by the GST Council resolving the problem of blockage of working capital. He further stated that ITC and IGST refunds for exporters are being expedited and explained in detail the process and procedure for refund of IGST claims for exporters. He reiterated that GST will be very beneficial for exporters in the long run. The Ministry of Finance will continue to work in collaboration with the Department of Commerce and exporters to address their operational issues.

The Commerce Secretary stated that the FTP will continue with ‘Whole of Government’ approach involving all Ministries and State Governments. Over the last 10 years, exports have grown at a CAGR of 8 percent which is fairly creditable. The government recognizes that the Medium and Small scale industries require handholding and thus rates for MEIS for such sectors have been enhanced. An important consideration in framing this Policy has been the need to ensure that the FTP is aligned with both India’s interests in trade negotiations, as well as its obligations and commitments under various WTO agreements. The biggest challenge, however, is to address constraints within the country, such as infrastructure bottlenecks, high transaction costs, complex procedures, constraints in manufacturing and inadequate diversification in our services. Towards this end, she stated, the Department of Commerce has set up a new Division to promote integrated and streamlined logistics development in the country. For addressing gap in infrastructure sector, the Trade Infrastructure for Exports Scheme has been launched.

4. 46 countries sign and 19 ratify the Framework Agreement of ISA

The ISA is an Indian initiative, jointly launched by the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi and the President of France on 30th November 2015 in Paris, on the sidelines of COP-21, the UN Climate Conference.It aims at addressing obstacles to deployment at scale of solar energy through better harmonization and aggregation of demand from solar rich countries lying fully or partially between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. As of date, 46 countries have signed and 19 countries have ratified the Framework Agreement of ISA.

The Paris Declaration establishing ISA states that the countries share the collective ambition to undertake innovative and concerted efforts for reducing the cost of finance and cost of technology for immediate deployment solar generation assets. This will help pave the way for future solar generation, storage and good technologies for each prospective member countries’ individual needs, by effectively mobilizing more than US$1000 billion in investments that will be required by 2030.

India has offered to meet ISA Secretariat expenses for initial five years. In addition, the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India has set aside US$2 billion for solar projects in Africa out of Government of India's US$10 billion concessional Line of Credit (LOC) for Africa. Government of France has also earmarked Euro 300 million soft loan for solar related projects in ISA member countries.

5. Water circuits to be developed on the lines of power circuits says Nitin Gadkari

Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Nitin Gadkari has stressed on the need of river connectivity, construction of Barrages, Dams, Rubber dams and Bandhas, drip and piped irrigation in the country and highlighted the need for water circuits in the country on the lines of power circuits for better water conservation. He was addressing the Second India Water Impact Summit 2017 in New Delhi today.

Addressing the summit the Minister said that availability of water is not the problem but we have to learn to manage and conserve it. The Minister said Union Government’s plan to double the income of farmers by the year 2022 cannot be achieved without proper water management. Shri Gadkari said enhancing drip and pipe irrigation will reduce wastage of water and will be cost effective for farmers. He further added, river connectivity programme can reduce water crisis in critical areas like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana and Maharashtra.