Читать книгу Sustainable Agriculture Systems and Technologies - Группа авторов - Страница 56

The migration of people back to their native rural communities combined with a decline in market availability for and sale of produce (and the social and economic issues relating to both) reinforces the importance of having strong policies in place to tackle these challenges. Timeline of Finance Minister announces measures to strengthen agriculture, infrastructure, logistics, food processing sectors, capacity building, governance, and administrative reforms for agriculture, and Fisheries during lockdown restrictions in India (Figure 4.2). The Indian Ministry of Finance help package under the existing Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana program specifically targets the poor to help them fight the battle against COVID‐19, to cope with the nationwide lockdown and it's financial consequences. The rate of wages in India has also been revised and increased for all those working under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA). This scheme is one of the world's largest wage schemes. Finally, the GoI has recently established a program called the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM‐CARES) Fund, which was created on 27 March 2020. Hon'ble Narendra Modi is the chairman of PM‐CARES funds and that trustees include Minister of Home Affairs, Amit Shah, the Minister of Defence, Rajnath Singh, and the Minister of Finance, Nirmala Sitharaman. PM‐CARES aimed at building capacity to resolve national challenges caused by future pandemics for combating, and containment and relief efforts against the coronavirus outbreak and similar pandemic like situations in the future (Figure 4.3). Due to the completeness of the lockdown and primary focus on stopping the spread of the disease, consumers, agricultural marketers, farmers, daily wage earners, and other stakeholders suffered enormously.