Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri said that the welfare of the farmers is the top priority of the Union Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Addressing the farmers and others at the Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar, he said that the farmers are the backbone of the economy besides being the caretakers of our land and the custodians of our food security. Mr Puri from the University in Amritsar, attended the PM-KISAN Samman Nidhi programme beamed live from Bhagalpur, Bihar and was addressed by the Prime Minister. He said that farmers have become energy producers and that the government is striving to increase ethanol blending across the country for their benefit. He said the total ethanol blending earlier was 1.5%, but now it has reached 19.6%, following which the farmers have been paid more than 90,000 crore rupees. The Union Government is continuously striving to increase ethanol blending across the country, which will ultimately benefit the farmers.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister transferred the 19th instalment of PM KISAN Samman Nidhi of 22 thousand crore rupees directly into the accounts of over 9.8 crore farmers of the country. In the last 6 years, the farmers have received nearly 3.5 lakh crore rupees worth of honorarium under the PM KISAN.
Later, the Union Minister also felicitated some of the farmers while acknowledging their contribution to the economy.