Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia launched Krishi Udan 2.0 scheme to implement in 53 airports under which cargo-related infrastructure will be built mainly focusing on north-east, hilly and tribal regions and likely benefits farmers.
Aim
i.Opening up new ventures of growth for agriculture sectors that Facilitates and incentivizes agri-produce by air transportation.
ii.Doubling farmer’s income by removing barriers in supply chain and transportation of farm produce.
Key points
i.Facilitates the development of hubs and creates cargo terminals at the airports in a phase-wise manner.
ii.Under Krishi Udan 2.0, the central government would also encourage states to reduce sales tax to one percent on aviation turbine fuel in aircrafts which are used for transportation cargo.
iii.The scheme converges two divergent areas in India’s Economic roadmap – Agriculture and Aviation by adopting the model of A2A – Agriculture to Aviation.
- Reason for convergence of agriculture and aviation – 1.Efficient use of Biofuels to the Aircraft; 2.Use of drones in the agriculture sector; 3.Realisation of Agricultural products.
iv.An online platform called e-Kushal (Krishi UDAN for Sustainable Holistic Agri-Logistics)would be developed to facilitate information dissemination to all stakeholders regarding transportation of agricultural produce.
Krishi Udan Scheme
- It was established by the Ministry of Civil Aviation in February 2020, on National and International routes to assist farmers in transporting agricultural products at affordable rates.
- In Krishi UDAN 2.0, the scheme moves ahead to efficiently use Biofuels to the Aircraft, Use of drones in the agriculture sector and Realisation of Agricultural products for farmers benefit.
Cargo Terminals
i.The cargo terminals will be established at the airports in Agartala, Srinagar, Dibrugarh, Dimapur, Hubli, Imphal, Jorhat, Lilabari, Lucknow, Silchar, Tezpur, Tirupati and Tuticorin within 2021-22.
ii.In 2022-23, the cargo terminals will be established at airports in Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Jharsuguda, Kozhikode, Mysore, Puducherry, Rajkot and Vijayawada.
Recent Related News
The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) and the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for development of Seaplane services in India.
- The agreement will help in development of new water aerodromes and operationalization of new Seaplane routes in India.
About Ministry of Civil Aviation
Cabinet Minister – Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna Constituency, Madhya Pradesh)
Minister of state – V K Singh
