'Govt to give ₹ 1 lakh crore additional income to farmers': Union minister Pradhan

Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister stated on Thursday, that the government will provide an additional income of 1 lakh crore to farmers that will be generated by converting waste into energy. While speaking during a discussion on 'Motion of Thanks' to the President's address in Rajya Sabha, the union minister said that the Gobar Dhan scheme has been initiated and the heap of waste at Ghazipur will also be cleaned soon to create energy. 

"We have started the Gobar Dhan scheme. Cow dung, agriculture waste, city waste, forest waste, the carbon in biomass, everything will be converted into energy. In a few days, the heap of waste at Ghazipur will be cleaned up. The energy that we will make from that we are going to give an additional income of ₹ 1 lakh crore in the accounts of farmers. The income of farmers will double from that," he said reported PTI

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To help increase the farmer's income, the government has come up with a scheme to procure ethanol worth ₹ 20,000 crore.

"We have made a scheme for buying 325 crore litre ethanol in 2020-21. We have started buying that will cost ₹ 20,000 crore. This will be 8.5 per cent of the requirement. In the coming days we will take it to 20 per cent," Pradhan said.

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Union Oil Minister slams Congress

The Union minister further slammed Congress for not bringing a law on minimum support price (MSP) despite being in power for a long period of time and its constant criticism of the present government. 

"Why MSP law was never brought in the past? Your four generations had got the opportunity to rule the country. In many states, you ruled thinking it was your estate. When did you get a law on MSP? You question us, where have we given MSP? During your time (2013-14), a total of ₹ 97,110 crore was given as MSP to farmers. In our time (2020-21), we have given ₹ 2.60 lakh crore. You question those working honestly for farmers' welfare farmers?" he added.

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(With PTI Inputs)