eRUPI voucher will help everyone in targeted, transparent and leakage free delivery: PM Modi
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New Delhi: Giving a new boost to cashless transactions and total transparency in disbursing benefits under various welfare schemes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched digital payment solution e-RUPI, a person and purpose specific digital payment solution, via video conference. e-RUPI is a cashless and contactless instrument for digital payment.
Addressing the event, the Prime Minister said that eRUPI voucher is going to play a huge role in making DBT more effective in digital transactions in the country and will give a new dimension to digital governance. “This will help everyone in targeted, transparent and leakage free delivery,” he said.
He said that e-RUPI is a symbol of how India is progressing by connecting people’s lives with technology. He also expressed happiness that this futuristic reform initiative has come at a time when the country is celebrating the Amrit Mahotsav on the 75th anniversary of independence.
Modi said in addition to the government, if any organization wants to help someone in their treatment, education or for any other work, then they will be able to give an eRUPI voucher instead of cash. This will ensure that the money given by him is used for the work for which the amount was given, he said.
The Prime Minister said eRUPI is person as well as purpose specific. eRUPI will ensure that the money is being used for the purpose for which any help or any benefit is being provided. He recalled that there was a time when technology was considered a domain of the rich people and there was no scope for technology in a poor country like India. He remembered when this government took technology as a mission, it was questioned by the political leaders and certain types of experts.
The Prime Minister noted how technology is bringing in transparency and integrity in transactions and creating new opportunities and making them available to the poor. He mentioned that for reaching today’s unique product, foundation was prepared over the years by creating the JAM system which connected mobile and Aadhaar. Benefits of JAM took some time to be visible to people and we saw how we could help the needy during the lockdown period while other countries were struggling to help their people, said the Prime Minister.
He noted that in India, more than seventeen and half lakh crore rupees have been transferred directly to the accounts of the people via Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). More than three hundred schemes are using DBT. 90 crore Indian are being benefited in some way or the other through in areas like LPG, ration, medical treatment, scholarship, pension or wage disbursal. 1 lakh 35 thousand crore rupees have directly been transferred to farmers under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, 85 thousand crore rupees for government purchase of wheat were also disbursed in this manner. “The biggest benefit of this all is that 1 lakh 78 thousand crore rupees were prevented from going to the wrong hands,” he added.
The Prime Minister noted that development of digital transactions in India has empowered the poor and deprived small businesses, farmers and tribal population. This can be felt in the record of 300 crore UPI transactions in the month of July amounting to Rs 6 lakh crore. He said that India is proving to the world that we are second to none in adopting technology and adapting to it. When it comes to innovations, use of technology in service delivery, he said that India has the ability to give global leadership alongside major countries of the world.
The Prime Minister said that the PM Samridhi Yojana has helped more than 23 lakh street vendors in small towns and large cities of the country. During this pandemic period, about Rs 2300 crore has been disbursed to them. He said the world is recognizing the impact of the work done in the last 6-7 years for digital infrastructure and digital transactions in the country. /BI/
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The exports of agricultural commodities from March to June 2020 shot up by 23.24 percent on-year to Rs 25,552.7 crores.
As the economy comes to a standstill amid the coronavirus-led lockdown, India’s agriculture sector has taken the baton of economic growth in its hands. The exports of agricultural commodities from March to June 2020 shot up by 23.24 percent on-year to Rs 25,552.7 crores, according to the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. The government said that self-reliant agriculture is critical for the goal of an Atmanirbhar Bharat and for this, agricultural export is extremely important as besides earning foreign exchange for the country, the exports help farmers, producers, and exporters to take advantage of the wider international market and increase their income.
The surge in exports has also resulted in increased production in the farm sector by increasing coverage area and productivity. The share of India’s agricultural exports and imports in the world agriculture trade in 2017 was 2.27 percent and 1.90 percent, respectively. Even during the difficult time of pandemic lockdown, India took care not to disturb the world food supply chain and continued to export, the government said.
Ministry of Agriculture has prepared a comprehensive action plan for the promotion of Agri trade; the twofold approach focuses on boosting Agri Export with emphasis on value addition and action plan for Import Substitution. Recently, the Agriculture sector has witnessed a series of reforms, giving more choices to the farmers to sell their produce at competitive rates.
To mention a few, the Export strategy focuses on the export promotion of fast-evolving niche markets of Wellness food/ Health-conscious food/nutraceuticals, Development of “Brand India” in campaign mode to help penetration into new foreign markets and of new products which automatically translates into higher value realization, Gulf countries have been identified as focus destination to increase the market share which is a strong market for India though presently India caters to only 10-12% share of their total imports. A product-market matrix has been made containing a list of products of strength that could be expanded in new geographies and a list of known markets which can be introduced with newer products.
At the behest of the Department of Agricultural Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture, product-specific Export Promotion Forums have been created to lead Agri exports to new heights. Each Export Promotion Forum shall be having exporters of the related commodity as its members along with official members representing concerned Ministries/Departments of the Central and State Governments. Chairman APEDA shall be the chairman of each of these forums. The forums will meet at least once every two months, to discuss recommendations on issues pertaining to the export.
The recommendations of the forum will be placed in the product committee / Authority of APEDA. The Forum will keep in close contact with the concerned organization of the Ministry of Agriculture such as MIDH, Extension, NPPO, etc., DGFT, Ministry of Civil Aviation, MoFPI, etc. to further the interest of agricultural export.
