The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved a restructured National Bamboo Mission (NBM) with an outlay of Rs 1,290 crore for two years, a move aimed at benefiting one lakh farmers. The CCEA also increased the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of raw jute by Rs 200 per quintal to Rs 3,700 per quintal for the 2018-19 crop season.
"The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved Centrally Sponsored Scheme of NBM under National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) during remaining period of 14th Finance Commission (2018-19 and 2019-20). An outlay of Rs 1,290 crore (with Rs 950 crore as Central share) is provisioned for implementation of the Mission during the remaining period of 14th Finance Commission," said the statement issued by the Government.
It approved empowerment of executive committee for formulation of guidelines of the NBM and to make the changes therein, including cost norms for various interventions as per the "felt needs" and specific recommendations of states. "It is proposed to bring about one lakh hectare area under plantation and it is expected that abut one lakh farmers would be directly benefitted in terms of plantation," the release said.
The Mission will focus on development of bamboo in limited States where it has social, commercial and economical advantage. The States include, the North Eastern region, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
The new MSP for the raw jute would yield returns of 63.2 per cent over the weighted average A2 + Fl (covers actual paid-out costs plus an imputed value of unpaid family labour) cost of production, the release said. "The increased MSP is based on recommendations of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP)," it said.
The decision would benefit jute farmers mainly in West Bengal, Assam and Bihar which account for 95 per cent of the country's jute production. The Jute Corporation of India would continue to act as central nodal agency to undertake price support operations at the MSP in jute growing states, according to the release.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley attended a meeting of the Union Cabinet, the first since he was diagnosed with a kidney ailment that has kept him away from office for over three weeks now.