Farmers to Receive Digital ID Cards for Govt Scheme Benefits: Shivraj Singh Chouhan

Union Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that agriculture is the backbone of the country’s economy and the farmers’ welfare is the priority of the Narendra Modi government. Replying to the debate on the demands for grants related to his ministry for 2025-26, Mr Chouhan highlighted that the NDA government has allocated over ten lakh crore rupees in the budget for the agriculture sector in the last ten years.

He said, in the ten years of the UPA regime, the total budget allocation from 2004 to 2014 was only one lakh 51 thousand crore rupees. The minister informed that the government is providing free rice and wheat to over 80 crore beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. Mr Chouhan said the food grain production in 2013-14 was around 265 million tonnes, which has increased to over 330 million tonnes. He said 45 crore 90 lakh metric tonnes of paddy were purchased from 2004 to 2014, and the Modi government has so far purchased 75 crore 74 lakh metric tonnes at MSP.

The minister said, under the Digital Agri mission, a digital identity card will be provided to every farmer in the country. He said, that through this initiative, the farmers can avail themselves of the benefits of various government schemes. Mr Chouhan said the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana scheme offers a



comprehensive shield against crop losses caused by unpredictable natural hazards. Later the House gave its approval to the Demands and Grants for the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare for 2025-26.

Earlier, initiating the discussion, Dharmendra Yadav of the Samajwadi Party highlighted the plights of the farmers in the country. He accused the BJP of being insensitive towards the farmers. He said the promise of doubling the income of farmers was not fulfilled. Jai Prakash of Congress said that only one thousand rupees have been increased in the MSP of rice and wheat in the last ten years. He demanded the government waive off farm loans. Mr Prakash said, during the UPA government, farm loans worth 60 thousand crore rupees were waived off. He also sought to know the welfare measures taken by the NDA government for the farmers.

Dushyant Singh of BJP said that in the Union budget, the government has allocated over one lakh 37 thousand crore rupees for the agriculture and farmer welfare sector, which constitutes about 2.7 per cent of the total Union budget. He said over ten thousand crore rupees have been allocated for research and development of the agriculture sector. Mr Singh added that the government has provided good-quality seed and market access to the farmers to sell their crops.