SUDHIR KUMAR / NEW DELHI
Union Government on Wednesday decided to hike the DAP subsidy by 140 per cent to provide the fertilizer to farmers at old rate despite international price rise.
The subsidy has been increased from Rs. 500 per bag to Rs. 1,200 per bag.
Now, despite the rise in international market prices, it will continue to available at the older price of Rs. 1,200 per bag.
A decision in this regard was taken during a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of fertilizer prices.
Mr Modi stressed that farmers should get fertilizers at old rates despite the international rise in prices.
He remarked that his government is committed to the welfare of farmers and will take all efforts to ensure that farmers do not have to face the brunt of price-rise.
Recently, the international prices of phosphoric acid, ammonia and others used in DAP have gone up by 60 to 70 per cent.
So, the actual price of a DAP bag is currently Rs. 2,400 which could be sold by Fertilizer companies at Rs. 1,900 after considering earlier subsidy of Rs. 500.
With today’s decision, the farmers will continue to get a DAP bag for Rs. 1,200.
The Central Government spends about Rs. 80 thousand crore on subsidies for chemical fertilizers every year.
With the increase in subsidy in DAP, Government of India will spend an additional Rs. 14,775 crore as subsidy in Kharif season.
This is the second major decision in the farmers’ interest in a week, after directly transferring Rs. 20, 667 crore in Farmers’ account under PM-KISAN.