Rs 1 lakh crore: To counter Covid slowdown, PM Modi launches agri infra fund

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched an Agriculture Infrastructure Fund worth Rs 1 lakh crore to boost services related to the primary sector.

The launch was done amid the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic slowdown exacerbated due to the lockdown.

Although commentators say that the agriculture sector doesn't seem to have suffered as much as some of the others, reverse migration to villages has increased employment worries.

PM Modi said that the fund would help boost infrastructure like cold storage chains which would also provide employment.

He also released the sixth instalment of the Pradhan Mantri-Kisan Samman Nidhi.

Rs 17,000 crore was transferred to 8.5 crore farmer families 'in the blink of an eye', as per the Prime Minister.

The scheme was announced in the February 2019 Budget and launched retrospectively from December 2018 to provide direct monetary help to farmers.

Its scope was expanded after Narendra Modi returned to power in May 2019.

The PM said that Rs 22,000 crore was released under the PM-KISAN scheme even during the lockdown necessitated due to the Covid pandemic.

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