Krishi Udan scheme

Why is in news? Govt planning to bring 21 more airports under Krishi Udan scheme: Jyotiraditya Scindia

The Union Minister for Civil Aviation has said that the government is planning to bring 21 more airports under the Krishi Udan scheme.

Krishi UDAN was launched in August 2020, on international and national routes to assist farmers in transporting agricultural products so that it improves their value realisation.

The scheme aims to ensure seamless, cost-effective, time-bound air transportation and associated logistics for all Agri-produce originating especially from Northeast, hilly and tribal regions of the country.

The scheme has been implemented in the region very successfully. The government released Krishi UDAN 2.0 in October 2021.

Krishi Udan Scheme 2.0 was announced, it enhancing the existing provisions, mainly focusing on transporting perishable food products from the hilly areas, North-Eastern States and tribal areas.

Krishi Udan Scheme is a convergence scheme where eight Ministries/Departments namely Ministry of Civil Aviation, Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region would leverage their existing schemes to strengthen the logistics for transportation of Agri-produce.

There is no specific budget allocation under Krishi Udan Scheme.

Implementing Agency:

The enhanced version of the Krishi UDAN scheme was formulated with support from AAI Cargo Logistics and Allied Services Company Limited (AAICLAS) – a 100% subsidiary of the Airports Authority of India and Invest India, India’s national Investment Promotion & Facilitation Agency, under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Objectives:

The objective of the Krishi Udan scheme was to provide assistance to the farmers with respect to the transport of agricultural products so that they will be able to get the value realization for their products.

The Krishi UDAN 2.0 focuses on the transportation of perishable food products from north-eastern states, hilly states, and tribal regions.

The scheme will focus on addressing the long-standing problem of the wastage of agricultural products.

The other objective is to penetrate deeper into the hinterland and to be able to provide value, especially for perishable commodities.