Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh today said the initiatives taken in the agriculture sector would ensure that adequate technological and other interventions increase the productivity and augment the economic profile of the farming community as envisaged by the Prime Minister.The Deputy Chief Minister was speaking at a special outreach programme on Agriculture schemes organized by the Directorate of Field Publicity (DFP), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, J&K Region, Jammu in collaboration with Agriculture Department and Krishi Vigyan Kendra at RS Pura here today.The programme was aimed at spreading awareness among farmers of the area about various Centrally Sponsored Schemes viz Pradhan Mantri FasalBima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, Soil Health Card, Kissan Credit Card, Parampragat Krishi VikasYojanaetc aimed at doubling the income of farmers.Minister for Irrigation and PHE, Mr Sham Chowdhary, Vice chairman KissanVikas Board, Mr DSChib, MLA, RSPura, Dr Gagan Bhagat, Additional Director General Directorate of Field Publicity(DFP), Mr RASaroj, Deputy Director, DFP,Ms Neha Jalali, Joint Director, Agriculture and other senior officers were present on the occasion.
“Farming community should take advantage of the modern technology in order to make the farming and related practices simpler and thereby increasing their productivity,” maintained the Deputy Chief Minister. He said the Government has also undertaken the initiatives to introduce newer technologies in the Agriculture sector, which would ensure that the agricultural produce gets increased and thereby resulting in uplift of the economic activities of the farming community.Applauding the initiative of DFP for organizing the event, the Dy CM said that such occasions greatly help working out innovative plans for promotion of a specific sector besides suggesting remedial measures for redressal of impediments in the existing system. “The programme will enable the participants to learn and implement the knowledge in their respective fields to further their objective of promoting Agriculture sector in the state to the fullest”, he addedDeputy Chief Minister appreciated the DFP for spreading awareness in rural far-flung, border and media shadow areas. He urged the gathering to spread information in these areas about various centrally sponsored schemes which were taken up at the special outreach programme organized by Directorate of Field Publicity. He added that people cannot avail benefits of various schemes unless they know them and unless local masses come forward to spread awareness about these schemes. He stressed upon the concerned departments to set targets in order to make the benefits of various schemes to reach common masses.
Dr Singh stressed on proper and timely dissemination of information about the advanced and innovative methods of agriculture being developed by the university. He said awareness is pre-requisite for success of any scheme and these type of awareness programmes are of vital importance for the initiatives taken in the agriculture sector.Minister for PHE Sham Lal Choudhary said the central & State Governments are working hard to increase income of the farmers by 2022. He appreciated the efforts of Departments dealing with Kissan Credit Card, FasalBima Yojana, Soil Health Card & Param Pragat Krishi Vikas Yojana (Organic Farming). He said a lot more needs to be done in order to reach the common masses.RP Saroj Additional Director General, Directorate of Field Publicity in his address said that Government of India has launched 72 schemes for the benefit of the local masses and it is the duty of Directorate of Field Publicity to spread awareness about all these schemes among local masses through two-way communication. He said people should know how to avail the benefit of these schemes. Neha Jalali, Deputy Director, DFP, J&K in her address gave brief introduction of DFP and made people aware about the working of DFP its aims & objectives of organizing such awareness programmes.
Resource persons from various concerned departments gave expert lecture related to various schemes of their respective Departments. Song and Drama Division mesmerized the audience with their melodious theme based and folk songs and the programme ended with singing of National AnthemDr Singh also distributed Kissan credit cards among several beneficiaries on the occasion.