Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Agriculture Production Department (APD), Atal Dulloo, chaired a meeting to review the status of flagship schemes tailored for farmers’ welfare at civil secretariat here today.The meeting was specifically called to review Kisan Credit Cards, Soil Health Card and Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maandhan Yojana (PMKMY).
ACS assessed the status of generation of Kisan Credit Cards and directed the officers that credit flow through the cards be increased. ‘Credit flow as well as ticket size of the loans needs to be raised for increased benefits to the farmers’, he stressed.
ACS asked for developing an integrated portal of KCC for all districts of the UT and was informed that work on the same has already been initiated.Dulloo reviewed the status of issuance of Soil Health Cards and was informed that 100 percent saturation has been achieved in this regard.
Since the cards are regularly updated, the ACS was told that the process of their updation is going on as per schedule.ACS said that farmers should be educated about the benefits of Soil Health Card and therefore, the Agriculture Department and its extension functionaries need to organise awareness campaigns.
He also reviewed the status of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maandhan Yojana insurance disbursal and gave time bound targets for insurance disbursal in both divisions of the UT. He also directed the officers to increase coverage under the scheme.
Pertinently, PMKMY is a government scheme meant for old age protection and social security of small and marginal farmers.Those present at the meeting included Secretary in APD, Shabnum Kamili; DG Planning APD; Director Agriculture Jammu, KK Sharma; Director Agriculture Kashmir, Chowdhary Mohammad Iqbal and MD Agro among other senior officers.