Jaipur, 19 February. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched ‘Soil Health Card Scheme’ nationwide from Suratgarh in Rajasthan on Thursday and presented the Krishi Karman Awards 2013-14 to the winning states. The Prime Minister also unveiled the logo of Soil Health Card and distributed the soil health cards to some farmers.

14 Crore Farmers to Get Benefit

The Soil Health Card Scheme envisages issuing soil health cards based on soil testing for all the 14 crore landholdings in a cycle of 3 years. Soil Health Card is a report of soil fertility status and provides a set of soil test based recommendations to the farmers so that they can apply appropriate dosages of required fertilizers as per the soil health status for improving farm productivity.

The objective of this scheme is to provide a platform for the benefit of farmers and ensure agriculture sustainability. Soil data and information will be made easily accessible to all the farmers. Better informed farmers can be fully engaged in agricultural development and food security.

Krishi Karman Awards Presented

The Prime Minister on this occasion also presented the ‘Krishi Karman Awards’ to the winning states led by Chief Ministers, Agriculture Ministers or other government functionaries. State of Punjab received award for first category, Odisha for second and Meghalaya for the third category in food production. Winning States were presented trophies, citation and Rs. 5 crore in cash. Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal received the first category award on behalf of Punjab state.

Eighteen progressive farmers of various states were also awarded Krishi Mantri Krishi Karman Awards. A citation and Rs. 2 lakh cash were given under this award.

After launching the ‘Soil Health Card Scheme’ Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi called upon farmers to focus on health of soil and adopt new techniques to bring the country ahead in agriculture sector. Shri Modi said schemes such as soil health card scheme and the recently launched ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ schemes were relevant across the country. He said Beti Bachao scheme was launched in Haryana keeping in view the declining number of girl child in comparison with boys.

The Prime Minister said it was essential to save both ‘Beti’ and ‘Dharti Ma’. In order to get ‘Dharti Ma’ which is truly “Sujalam Suphalam” it is necessary that we nurture our soil. He also gave the slogan of “Swasth Dhaara, Khet Haraa” to boost productivity and bring prosperity, he said.

The Prime Minister while speaking about the importance of water mentioned Lakha Banjara and said Lakha Banjara constructed Baoris where people were facing scarcity of water. He said it was essential to use water judiciously. Excess and scarcity of water both are dangerous he said. Water is like offerings of God and for good agriculture we have to use ‘boond-boond paani’ and not waste a drop of water, he added.

Shri Modi said earlier schemes were being run from top-to-bottom but now he is willing to run the schemes from bottom-to-top that means from states to centre. He has asked each state to come up with agriculture plans after forming high level committee of experts. Common plans would be selected out of the agriculture plans received from the states and would be implemented at the centre level, he said.

Chief Minister Smt. Vasundhara Raje while addressing the huge gathering said due to the progressive vision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi the country is moving ahead on the path of development. Strong steps taken by the Prime Minister will pave the way to make India a developed and an empowered country, she said.
Smt. Raje said Indira Gandhi canal is in shabby condition as it has become 50 years old. Water logging is also a big problem in the command area of Indira Gandhi Nahar Project which has ruined lakhs of hectares of fertile land. The polluted water of industrial units in Punjab is falling in the canal water and it has caused cancer like diseases in the area. The Punjab government should take steps in this direction so that there were no cancer special trains in the area, she said.

The Chief Minister said Minimum Support Price should be declared in timely manner so that farmers can get reasonable price for their produce. She said target has already been set by the state for generating 25,000 MW solar energy and within a year MoUs have been signed with private sector regarding generation of 32,700 MW solar energy.

Rajasthan Governor Shri Kalyan Singh, Punjab Chief Minister Shri Prakash Singh Badal, Union Agriculture Minister Shri Radha Mohan Singh, members of the Union Council of Ministers Shri Mohanjibhai Kalyanjibhai Kundaria, Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, Prof. Sanwar Lal Jat, Shri Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Shri Nihal Chand Meghwal, Agriculture Minister of Rajasthan Shri Prabhu Lal Saini, Agriculture ministers from Krishi Karman Awards winning states and other dignitaries were present during the function.