India remains predominantly an agricultural nation despite advancements in various sectors. This is because over sixty percent of the population is still employed in agriculture. According to general economic development indicators, a country with a higher percentage of its population engaged in agriculture tends to be poorer. Therefore, India needs further development in agriculture to boost farmers' income and accelerate its journey towards becoming a developed nation. The prosperity of a country's farmers is directly linked to its progress. With this in mind, the Central Government has launched the 'Pradhan Mantri Dhan-Dhanya Krishi Yojana' aimed at enhancing village and agricultural development. This initiative will select 100 districts across the country where agricultural production is relatively low.
By diversifying agricultural crops in these districts, their yield will be increased and arrangements will be made for farmers to adopt the latest agricultural techniques. This work will be done from block level to district level and from district to national level, Dhan-Dhanya committees will be formed. The committee at district level will be headed by the District Magistrate in which progressive farmers of the district will be made members. Apart from the agricultural produce of its district, this committee will work to develop the agricultural based production units of this area as well as increase their productivity and will also pay attention to the value addition of the goods produced by them. Modi government has also integrated the rural and agricultural development schemes of the state governments by adding more than 36 village and agricultural schemes of 11 departments so that maximum number of farmers can get benefit. Among the 100 districts that will be selected, there will be at least one district from each state. This scheme will run for six years which will start from the current agricultural year. One crore 70 lakh farmers will benefit from it. In fact, the biggest leader among the farmer leaders of the country till date, Bharat Ratna Late Chaudhary Charan Singh used to say that India will progress only when the farmers here will be prosperous and the production of the fields will increase. He believed that when the farmer is prosperous, his sons and daughters will be able to acquire higher education and, like other societies, they too will be able to make their children officers, scientists and in elite professions like engineers, doctors, professors, chartered accountants, etc.
Modi government has started this Dhan-Dhanya Krishi Yojana by following his path, on which 24 thousand crore rupees will be spent. Chaudhary Charan Singh was also the Prime Minister of the country for a few months. During this time, he also addressed the countrymen from the Red Fort on 15 August 1979. In his speech, Chaudhary sahab had emphasized the most on the development of the agriculture sector and said that when the cow of Israel gives 40 liters of milk, then why can't this happen in India too? Obviously, now it is 2025 and India has made a lot of progress in the dairy industry. The Modi government tries to develop the agriculture sector from every perspective so much that the income of the farmers also increases a lot.
However, Finance Minister Smt. Sitharaman had presented a rough outline of the Dhan-Dhanya scheme in her budget speech this year and said that the 'Aspiring Agriculture District Scheme' started by the government in 2018 has brought auspicious results, in view of which the government will move forward in this direction. On the same lines, it seems that the Modi government has decided to start the Dhan-Dhanya scheme. Mr. Chaudhary used to say one more thing that the agricultural land in India is continuously decreasing and is being divided into small plots (the reason for which is family) and the production is also not increasing. Therefore, the governments should focus on increasing agricultural production and diversification of this sector.
This is what the Modi government is doing. This is being considered an important step towards making the farmers of India self-reliant. Under the Dhan-Dhanya scheme, a master plan will be prepared for each of the 100 districts so that the set target can be achieved. By the way, we have also made a lot of progress in the agriculture sector in the last few years. Now there is no special difference between the productivity per hectare in America and the productivity of Indian farms. All this is the result of the dedication and hard work of our farmers. India's goal is to become a developed nation by 2047. This goal can be achieved only when we fill the barns of our farmers with grains or other agricultural products. Therefore, every district covered under this scheme will have to be equipped with warehouses to store the produce and the irrigation system of the fields will have to be improved. The district-wise Dhan-Dhanya committee will also pay attention to this and with the help of the private sector, it will develop rural basic agricultural infrastructure. According to the Dhan-Dhanya scheme or plan, if farmers move towards prosperity by taking more crops from the fields and increasing production, then it will have an impact on the economy of the entire India. Today America is considered the richest country in the world and only about 13 percent of its people are engaged in farming, but their production is considered to be the highest in the world. India can also do this work. After all, it is through our farmers that the Green Revolution and White Revolution (milk production etc.) have taken place in the last decades. The possibility of unprecedented changes in the agriculture sector cannot be denied with this step of the Modi government.