Krishi Udaan Scheme 2.0

Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Central government has launched Krishi Udan Yojana 2.0 on 27 October 2021. The new Krishi Udan 2.0 scheme will focus on transporting perishable food products from the hilly areas, northeastern states, and tribal areas. Krishi Udaan 2.0 Scheme will help solve the problem of wastage of agricultural food wastes in the country.

What is Krishi Udan Yojana 2.0?

The Union govt. of India is committed to doubling farmers' income and to do this, there needs to be a paradigm shift. Doubling a farmer's income doesn’t mean only increasing the value in the market for the product but it also means creating a paradigm shift for the farmers. Under Krishi Udan Yojana 2.0, MoCA will provide a full waiver of the following charges for domestic airlines:-

• Landing
• Parking
• Terminal Navigation
• Route Navigation Facilities

Airports Covered under Krishi Udaan 2.0 Scheme

Ministry of Civil Aviation will set up terminals in Leh, Srinagar, Nagpur, Nashik, Ranchi Bagdogra, Raipur, and Guwahati. It has selected 53 airports to be covered under the Krishi Udan 2.0 Scheme which will be majorly operated by the Airports Authority of India.

Along with these eight, domestic and international trade routes will also be started under Krishi Udaan 2.0 Scheme. The routes include Amritsar-Dubai to transport baby corn, Darbhanga and the rest of India to transport Lychees, and Sikkim and the rest of India for organic produce.

Trade Route Setup under Krishi Udan 2.0 Scheme

The central government will also work towards setting up a trade route between Chennai, Vizag, Kolkata, and East Asian countries to transport seafood. Other routes include Agartala-Delhi-Dubai for Pineapple, Dibrugarh-Delhi-Dubai for Mandarin Oranges, and Guwahati to Hong Kong for pulses, fruits, and vegetables.

Ministry has asked states to reduce sales tax on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) to 1 percent for airlines under Krishi Udan 2.0 Scheme. The ministry along with AAI will setup up a hub and spoke model at Agartala, Srinagar, Dibrugarh, Dimapur, Hubbali, Imphal, Jorhat, Lilabari, Lucknow, Silchar, Tezpur, Tirupati, and Tuticorin in 2021-22.

In 2022-23, they will develop a hub and spoke models to transport perishable products in Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Jharsuguda, Kozhikode, Mysuru, Puducherry, Rajkot, and Vijayawada, in 2023-24, Agra, Darbhanga, Gaya, Gwalior, Pakyong, Pantnagar, Shillong, Shimla, Udaipur, and Vadodara and in 2024-25, Holangi and Salem will be covered.

E-Kushal Portal for Krishi Udaan Yojana 2.0

The ministry will also develop an online portal E-KUSHAL to facilitate information on Krishi UDAN 2.0. MoCA will keep working on refining the rules of the scheme and urged the transport industry to point out any bottlenecks, they are facing in the transport of goods across the country.

Announcement of Krishi Udan 2.0 Yojana

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had first announced Krishi Udan Yojana 2.0 during her Budget speech on February 1, 2020, to assist farmers in the transportation of their agricultural products. Krishi Udaan Scheme 2.0 aims to transport agri-products to national as well international destinations that will help improve value realization, especially in the Northeast and tribal districts.

The objective of Krishi Udaan 2.0 Yojana

The main objective of Krishi Udaan 2.0 Yojana is to give farmers wings by improving their value realization. The central government is focusing on the modernization of agriculture and farm produce and realist the vision of Doubling Farmer's Income By 2022. The Krishi Udan Yojana 2.0 is a part of the 16 point action plan for farmers. Ministry of Civil Aviation has launched this Krishi Udaan Scheme on international and national routes. This scheme is a part of the Udey Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) Yojana which was launched in FY 2016 as a regional connectivity scheme.

The Krishi Udan Scheme will immensely improve the value realization of agricultural products, especially in the northeast and tribal districts.