How Modi hacks EVMs, part 7: Going from Congress’ 35% neem-coated Urea to 100%, eliminating pilferage, to soil health cards and more. How Farmers benefitted

 The following article was written for OpIndia. Pasting it here for reference:

Urea as a fertilizer is widely used and because of this, it was also one of the highly pilferaged fertilizer in the country. There was a time in our country when farmers had to stand in long lines to buy Urea. The long lines often led to fights and occasionally led to even the police having to get involved. Urea that was supposed to land in the hands of the farmer, often ended up with chemical industries or even rogue elements that used Urea to prepare adulterated milk.

What was the solution for this? Neem coating the Urea. This will increase its yield and also make it unusable for pilferage.  In the year 2002, when NDA was in power, it was recommended that Urea be neem-coated and the same was experimented at one plant. It took about 2 years for us to understand it’s success at a small scale. The decision to expand this to large scale was to be taken in July 2004. Mysteriously, very mysteriously, the then UPA government led by the honest Manmohan Singh decides to only neem-coat 35% of the Urea! It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why this was done. After becoming the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi made neem-coated Urea as 100% mandatory! I now don’t need to explain the immense benefits that our farmer got because of this one decision. So, we just have to ask ourselves why the farmer will not press the lotus button on the EVM?

Urea is not the only input needed for a good crop. Farmers will need to spend some money to buy equipment year after year. It took someone like Narendra Modi to come up with a unique scheme called Kisan Samman Nidhi. The scheme will transfer, directly to the farmers account, 6000 rupees per year in three equal instalments. Many state governments have attached themselves to this scheme and add some more amount. Therefore, crores of eligible farmers now get upto 10,000 rupees per year from the government, that they can use as Input credit. Till date, nearly a whopping 2.5 lakh crore rupees has been transferred to over 11 crore accounts as Input credit. Now, ask for yourself, why would they not credit Narendra Modi for their prosperity and press the Lotus button on the EVM?

Speaking about Inputs, one of the biggest inputs that a farmer will need is about the health of the soil. By issuing nearly 23 crore Soil Health Cards (a unique initiative), the Modi government has ensured that farmers are aware of the strengths and weaknesses of their soil and will take decisions accordingly!

For most people in the organised sector, having an insurance is a very common thing. For farmers, it was a nightmare to have insurance for their crops. In 2016, with the launch of the PM Fasal Bima Yojana, the Modi government fulfilled yet another long pending demand from the agricultural community. Did schemes not exist before 2016? Ofcourse yes. The premium was high, coverage was low and settlement was a nightmare! After resolving these critical problems in 2016, the Modi government bought in further reforms to their own scheme in 2020. The speed with which feedback is incorporated into schemes is a topic for another article! Today, nearly 30 crore farmers across the country have insured their crops under this scheme. Nearly 95,000 crore rupees have been paid by the government to the farmers on their claims! 95,000 crore rupees!

When Prime Minister Modi announced that his government’s aim is to double the farmer’s income by the year 2022, many mocked him. They mocked him because they wanted statistical proof of doubling of income from every farmer in the country. They were so busy mocking him that they lost sight of the many schemes that were being implemented by him. Today, Milk production in India is nearly 50% more than what it was in 2013! Today, there has been a more 50% increase in the production of pulses compared to 2013 (Infact, notice the stagnation in the production of pulses for a large part of UPA). I can go on and on about the increased production in various agricultural products but you get the picture! There was so much noise around giving MSP a legal status, while all along the Modi government increased MSP on multiple products thereby increasing the income of the farmers. Our farmers are producing more and earning more because of the government’s schemes, then is it any surprise that they will opt to press the lotus button

Agriculture is not just about the food grains. Through the PM Matsya Sampada Scheme, nearly 6 lakh fisher families get livelihood and nutritional support in their lean fishing periods; and heavy investments into fishing-related infrastructure. All these have led to India becoming the 2^nd largest fish-producing country. I think you now understand how these lakhs of families will willingly become part of the project where they will go and press the relevant button on the EVM, come election day!

Today, our farmers produce more than before. Our farmers sell more than before (e-NAM is a brilliant example). And most importantly, our farmers earn more than before. Agriculture, Aquaculture, Diary-culture etc are thriving like never before. Now, ask for yourselves, why would these crores of farmers not come out on election day and press the lotus button on the EVM?

This is the 7th article in the series Decoding How PM Modi hacks EVMs (an allegation the opposition often throws at him). Part-1 speaks about the focus on small-scale entrepreneurs; Part-2 speaks about the revolutions in the labour/employment sector; Part-3 speaks about the focus on both prevention and cure in health; Part-4 speaks about how the lives of women were made better at home, school and work. Part-5 speaks about the Focus on financial systems, along with Big Bang Reforms and simultaneous benefits to middle-class, economically weaker sections. Part-6 speaks about law-making and peace-making efforts that made India a much safer place to live in.