Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Parliament: ₹1.27 Lakh Cr Agri Budget, Doubled MSP, 12% Interest on Delays
29 July 2025, New Delhi: Union Minister for Agriculture, Farmers’ Welfare and Rural Development, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, addressed the Lok Sabha during Question Hour, presenting a comprehensive review of India’s agricultural development under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership. Highlighting key milestones achieved in the last decade, Chouhan criticized the previous UPA government for neglecting the farm sector and hailed the NDA’s policies for transforming rural livelihoods.
Chouhan outlined six key strategies adopted by the government: enhancing production, reducing input costs, ensuring fair market prices, compensating losses, promoting crop diversification, and modernizing agriculture through mechanization, irrigation, and allied sectors. “From 246.42 million tonnes, foodgrain production has surged to 353.96 million tonnes in 10 years. Pulses grew from 16.38 to 25.24 million tonnes, oilseeds from 27.51 to 42.61 million tonnes, and horticulture production from 280.70 to 367.72 million tonnes,” he informed the House.
He emphasized that the NDA government has significantly increased the agriculture budget from ₹27,000 crore under the UPA to ₹1.27 lakh crore. “PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, once non-existent, now supports 10 crore farmers. Fertiliser subsidies now cross ₹2 lakh crore. Institutional credit to farmers has grown from ₹7 lakh crore to ₹25 lakh crore,” he said.
Chouhan credited NDA policies for doubling, and in some cases tripling, farmers’ incomes. “Through initiatives like PM Fasal Bima Yojana, farmers received ₹1.83 lakh crore in claims against a premium of ₹35,000 crore. New technologies like YES-TECH and satellite-based crop assessment are making insurance payouts transparent and timely,” he noted.
Significantly, Chouhan announced that farmers will now receive 12% interest if insurance claims are not paid within 21 days, and the same penalty will apply to state governments delaying their share of the premium.
On the Minimum Support Price (MSP), Chouhan said the government ensured 50% profit over cost for farmers, fulfilling a long-pending demand rejected by the previous UPA regime. “Today, MSP for crops like tur, moong, urad, groundnut, sunflower, soybean, and sesame has more than doubled compared to 2013–14. For example, tur’s MSP rose from ₹4,300 to ₹8,000 per quintal, moong from ₹4,500 to ₹8,768, and cotton from ₹3,700 to ₹7,710,” he shared.
He further revealed that procurement of pulses under NDA rose to 1.82 crore metric tonnes, compared to just 6 lakh tonnes in the UPA decade. “Under PM AASHA, 100% procurement of tur, masur, and urad at MSP has been ensured. A strong mechanism is in place to prevent middlemen from denying farmers their rightful price,” Chouhan asserted.
Tenant farmers have also been brought into the fold. With state authorization, landowners can now nominate tenant farmers to access benefits like MSP and crop insurance. So far, 6.55 lakh sharecroppers and 41.62 lakh tenant farmers have benefitted.
Chouhan concluded by affirming that Prime Minister Modi’s pro-farmer vision has steered Indian agriculture into a new era. “Whether it is mechanization, irrigation, insurance, or direct benefit transfers, every initiative aims to boost farmers’ income. This is a government that delivers. Modi hai to mumkin hai,” he said.
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