Lockdown 2.0 : Agriculture Sector Gets Large Relief

The lockdown in the country has been extended till May 3 due to Corona virus. PM Modi announced this on Tuesday. The government said that exemption to certain sectors will be given gradually.

After this, the government issued new guidelines on Wednesday. Under this, large relief has been given to the farmers. Farmers will now be able to do the following things :

1. According to the new guideline, agencies engaged in procurement of agricultural produce and ensuring minimum support prices during lockdown 2.0 are exempted.

2. Farmers and agricultural labourers are also allowed to work in the fields. In addition, mandis operated by the Agricultural Produce Market Committee or mandis notified by the State / UT Government will be allowed to operate. According to this guide law, now the state / UT government or industry is allowed to sell directly from the farmers / group of farmers. In addition, the States / UTs can promote decentralized marketing and procurement at the village level.

3. In the new guide line, it has been announced to give exemption to the mandis operated by the Agricultural Produce Market Committee. All agencies engaged in procurement of agricultural products including MSP (Minimum Support Price) operations have also been approved for work.

4. Custom hiring centres, fertilizers, pesticides, seed production and packaging units providing agricultural machinery to small and marginal farmers are also allowed to operate.

5. Agricultural machinery shops, its spare parts and repair shops will remain open. The manufacturing, distribution and retailing of fertilizers, pesticides and seeds have also been allowed to remain open.

6. There is an exemption for transportation of sowing and harvesting machines from one place to another. Veterinary hospitals are also allowed to open.

11439 number of Corona positive in the country

The number of people infected with coronavirus has increased to 11439 after 1076 positive cases were reported in the last 24 hours in the country. At the same time, 38 people have died from Corona in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll from the Covid-19 epidemic to 377. According to the latest data released by the Ministry of Health, out of a total of 11439 cases of corona virus, 9756 are active cases. In addition, 1305 people have fully recovered or have been discharged from the hospital. According to the Health Ministry’s data as of 8 am Tuesday, the highest number of 178 deaths occurred due to corona virus in Maharashtra. 

In the world as well the spread of coronavirus continues to multiply and there is no fullstop to it. Worldwide more than 19 lakh cases have been registered and death toll has crossed 1 lakh 26 thousand. 4lakh 86thousand six hundred twenty two people have recovered.