New Delhi: On February 8, replying to the motion of thanks on the President’s address in the Rajya Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had particularly mentioned his government’s Kisan Rail and Kisan Udaan schemes for coming to the aid of marginal farmers across the country, helping them link their products to the big markets.

“Today, because of Kisan Rail, Kisan Udaan schemes, marginal farmers are able to sell their products in Mumbai. Look at the Northeast. There are so many wonderful things produced by small farmers there. Because of transportation issues, they had not been able to reap any benefit from it. Today, that has changed,” he had stated.

A round of applause erupted from the treasury benches in response to the prime minister’s claim.

Interestingly, around the same time, one wing of the Central government had refused to carry out a proposal mooted by another wing, which would have made the prime minister's claim on improving the Northeast's connectivity a reality.

This past February, the Ministry of Food Processing and Industries (MoFPI) had reportedly refused to give its assent to a proposal forwarded to it by the Ministry of Railways to include seven major perishable agricultural products from the Northeast to be brought under the purview of its “Operation Greens – TOP to Total” scheme so that those producers could be included in the Kisan Rail scheme. If included, the suppliers of those products would have received a 50% subsidy on transportation.

As per an Indian Express report, the Railways' proposal was rejected because the MoFPI doesn’t agree that those agricultural items from the region fall under the purview of ‘perishable fruits and vegetables’ to be eligible for the Operation Green scheme.

As per a news report, the Railways’ proposal had mentioned seven principal farm products from the region – bamboo, tea leaves, mustard, soyabean, areca nut, black pepper and rubber.

“….there is a significant demand to transport tea leaves from tea gardens of Upper Assam, bamboo, rubber, betel nut (areca nut), turmeric (raw), black pepper, mustard, soyabean, and mandarin from the north-eastern region of the country,” the letter from the Railways to the MoFPI had stated. “Hence it is requested that it may please be confirmed that the benefits of subsidy under Operations Greens –Top to Total scheme can be extended.”

“In response, only turmeric and mandarin – a citrus fruit – from the list of proposed items have been included in the subsidy scheme,” the IE report said. Sources in MoFPI were quoted as saying that ‘non-food items’ like bamboo and rubber are outside its ambit and to include them under the scheme, they would need to change its fundamental objective.

“While the Kisan Rail, launched in July last year, has transported over 80,000 tonnes of fruits and vegetables so far from various parts of the country to bigger markets, it has not been able to take unique products of the Northeast to elsewhere in India,” the report highlighted.

Significantly, the minister of state for MoFPI is Rameswar Teli from Assam, one of two ministers from the Northeastern region in the present Modi government.

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