50% Air Transportation Subsidy for Fruits and Vegetables from North Eastern and Himalayan States

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries have announced on November 11, 2020 that a 50% air transport subsidy will be provided to 41 notified fruits and vegetables from the Himalayan and the North Eastern states under the Operation Greens (TOP to TOTAL) scheme. This scheme is also making a part under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative.

Highlights

These notified fruits and vegetables were provided with rail subsidies earlier under the Kisan Rail Scheme. Now, the air transport subsidy would be provided under the UDAN scheme. This has been announced since significant number of airports have been developed in the North Eastern and the Himalayan States.

Kisan Rail Scheme

The Kisan Rail Scheme was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget presentation for the year 2020-21. The Kisan Rail scheme helps in transportation of the agricultural products like fruits and vegetables in the refrigerated coaches. Under the scheme, trains comprising of frozen containers and refrigerated coaches have been launched in order to build cold supply chain of fish, perishables, milk and meat. The scheme have been developed through the PPP arrangement.

UDAN scheme

The Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) scheme is a Regional connectivity Scheme. The scheme was launched with an objective of letting the common citizens of the country fly. This scheme has made air transport affordable to everyone.

Operation Greens

This scheme was launched in the year 2018. It is a price fixation scheme that ensure that farmers are provided with right price for their produce. The scheme has been launched with an aim of promoting the processing facilities, Farmer Producer Organizations and professional management of agri-produce.