Narendra Singh Tomar

The funds will be provided under the Innovation and Agri-entrepreneurship Development Programme launched under the revamped Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY).

Since all farmers cannot take their samples for testing to NDDB in Gujarat, more labs need to be set up in the future for the benefit of small farmers, Tomar said.

The ministry has sought suggestions from the various stakeholders within 45 days. The use of 27 insecticides are likely to involve risk to human being and animals, the order said.

"Procurement at MSP is underway. It will continue in the coming days as well. Those who want to create confusion and play politics, I request them to do it on other issues," Tomar said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the Cabinet meeting which was held earlier today.

In a letter written to Union Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar, she also urged him to forward the case to the CBI for a thorough probe into it.

Highest-ever allocation of more than Rs 1 lakh crore has been made to MGNREGA, which will boost employment opportunities in villages and bring relief to migrant labourers

Interacting with rural development ministers from various states via video conferencing, Tomar said their focus should be on water conservation, groundwater recharge and irrigation works.

He also said his government was committed to protect the rights of these 'anndataas' (food providers).

The impact of lockdown on the overall agriculture GDP will not be much this year on hopes of good rains. And the government has exempted farm activities from the lockdown rules, Tomar said.

Modi in a letter to Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar commended panchayati raj members across the country for their role in tackling the novel coronavirus crisis.

"Prime Minister Modi is looking into easing the problems being faced by the farmers. Welfare of the farmers is the top priority of this government," he said.

The Mahatma Gandhi Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) guarantees 100 days of wage employment to every household in rural areas in a financial year, whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

Launching the mobile app, Tomar said this has been developed to broaden the reach of the scheme, which is playing an important role in achieving the target of doubling farmers income by 2022.

Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar announced that farmers can enroll in the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) on a voluntary basis. The crop insurance scheme, which was launched in February 2016, was mandatory for farmers.

As per the report of Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs) constituted by the central government, an estimated area of 63.99 lakh hectares was affected by floods in 15 states during 2019-20, he said.

Union Minister for Panchayati Raj Narendra Singh Tomar said under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) of RGSA, funds released to states and Union Territories are utilised by them for undertaking activities sanctioned or permitted under their annual plans as recommended by Central Empowered Committee (CEC) and finally approved by the competent authority.

The country had produced 23.40 million tonnes of pulses during 2018-19 crop year (July-June), still short of annual domestic demand of 26-27 million tonnes. The gap is met through imports.

The government is implementing two crop insurance schemes of the PMFBY and the Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS).

Addressing a Global Potato Conclave here, the minister said the production of potato rose 34 times in seven decades while the area under cultivation grew by 9.3 times.