Being primarily an agrarian economy, India under PM Modi has fared rather successfully against the global food and fertiliser crisis even when several countries have been reeling under this challenge.
Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya’s recently launched book titled “Fertilising the Future: Bharat’s March Towards Fertiliser Self-Sufficiency” has delved in great detail into this very subject.
This was only achieved after the Modi government had to make right the many wrongs committed by the UPA-1 and UPA-2. The fertiliser, and by extension, the farm and agriculture sector had become a source of kickbacks for the UPA government across both its terms, particularly from 2007 to 2014.
The scam also involves Ratul Puri, nephew of senior Congress leader and former MP CM Kamal Nath – who is also an accused in the AgustaWestland chopper scam and Moser Baer scam. Black marketing of urea thrived under the Congress government including in the state governments. Shortage of urea in MP and Rajasthan during the previous Congress government and black marketing by private traders was rampant.
Measures taken by the Modi government to combat fertiliser crisis
22 crore soil health cards have been given to the farmers in the country. In the last 7-8 years, more than 1700 varieties of seeds have been made available to the farmers.
Under ‘One Nation, One Fertiliser’, urea will be sold with the same name, same brand, and same quality.
Work has also been done to promote the production and use of alternative fertilisers, making India the first country in the world to start commercial production of nano urea.
The Central Government took an important step towards encouraging new investment in urea production units by amending the new investment policy on October 7, 2014.
How India is on the path to becoming self-reliant in the fertiliser sector under Modi govt
“In the last few years, many countries of the world faced the problem of fertiliser crises. But under the leadership of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India did not let these crises affect the farmers and agriculturists of our country. Modi ji ensured that the rising prices of fertilisers in the global markets will not affect the farmers of the country,” an excerpt from the book reads.
It further states, “For this, the government worked to increase the subsidy. Even though the burden of subsidies on the government continued to increase, the Prime Minister was determined not to let the country’s food providers feel its burden.”
Presenting data to shed light on India’s growth story in the field of fertiliser, Mandaviya said India’s import of urea has been on a continuous decline. He said that the country is on the path to becoming self-sufficient in urea much to the credit of the closed urea factories restarted under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.
“Besides this, new urea production plants were also set up. Apart from this, by developing Nano urea and producing it on a large scale, India has made significant progress in becoming self-sufficient in urea. In the case of DAP also, remarkable work is being done towards making the country self-reliant,” Dr Mandaviya said during the book launch.
The book “Fertilising the Future: Bharat’s March Towards Fertiliser Self-Sufficiency” has been published by Rupa Publications and can be bought from here.
(With input from agencies)