Civil aviation minister launches Krishi UDAN 2.0
01 Nov 2021
Union minister of civil aviation, Jyotiraditya Scindia, on Wednesday launched Krishi UDAN 2.0, which lays out the vision of improving value realisation through better integration and optimisation of agri-harvesting and air transportation and contributing to agri-value chain sustainability and resilience under different and dynamic conditions. The scheme proposes to facilitateng and incentivise movement of agri-produce by air transportation.
“Krishi UDAN 2.0 is an example of the government’s collaborative approach towards policy making. This scheme will open up new avenues of growth for the agriculture sector and help attain the goal of doubling farmers' income by removing barriers in supply chain, logistics and transportation of farm produce,” Scindia said at the launch event.
Talking about the endeavor to accomplish convergence between the two important but diverse areas in India's economic roadmap, ie, agriculture and aviation, the minister said, "We want to take the Anndata to the highest level, by adopting the model of A2A – Agriculture to Aviation. The convergence between the two sectors is possible because of three primary reasons – Evolutionary possible use of biofuel for aircraft in future, use of drones in agriculture sector, and due to greater integration and value realisation of agricultural products through schemes like Krishi UDAN.”
The enhanced version of the Krishi UDAN scheme was formulated with support from AAICLAS - a 100 per cent subsidiary of the Airports Authority of India and Invest India, India’s national Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency, under the ministry of commerce and industry. It offers full waiver of landing, parking, TNLC and RNFC charges for Indian freighters and P2C at selected airports of Airport Authority of India, primarily focusing on NER, Hilly and tribal regions.
The Krishi UDAN 2.0 will be implemented at 53 airports across the country, mainly focusing on North East and tribal regions and is likely to benefit farmer, freight forwarders and airlines. The ministry of civil aviation plans to be pilot the scheme for 6 months, and, will introduce amendments based on results of the evaluation and consultations with other stakeholders.
Highlights of KRISHI UDAN 2.0:
- Full waiver of Landing, Parking, TNLC and RNFC charges for Indian freighters and P2C at selected Airports of Airport Authority of India. Primarily, focusing on NER, Hilly and tribal regions;
- Facilitating the development of a hub and spoke model and a freight grid, alongside Airside transit and transshipment infrastructure will be created at Bagdogra and Guwahati airports, and at Leh, Srinagar, Nagpur, Nashik, Ranchi, and Raipur airports;
- Seek support and encourage states to reduce sales tax to 1 per cent on ATF for freighters / P2C aircraft as extended in UDAN flights;
- Collaboration with other government departments and regulatory bodies to provide freight forwarder, airlines and other stakeholders with Incentives and concessions to enhance air transportation of agri-produce; and
- Development of E-KUSHAL (Krishi UDAN for Sustainable Holistic Agri-Logistics) platform will be developed to facilitate information dissemination to all the stakeholders. Integration of E-KUSHAL with National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) is also proposed.
A total 53 airports are select for the first phase of Krishi UDAN 2.0. – the majority of these are operated by AAI.
The strategic selection of the airports is primarily focused on north-east region. Additionally covers North, entire western coast and southern India (including two islands).
Airports for implementation of Krishi UDAN 2.0 are selected with the aim of providing benefit to the entire country. Opted airports not only provide access to regional domestic market but also connect them to international gateways of the country.
E-KUSHAL (Krishi Udaan for Sustainable Holistic Agri-Logistics) is a platform which will facilitate information dissemination to all the stakeholders. This will be a single platform which will provide relevant information while also assisting in coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the scheme.