Explained | What is the proposed PM-PRANAM scheme?

The Central government is reportedly gearing up to launch a scheme — the Pradhan Mantri Promotion of Alternate Nutrients for Agriculture Management (PM-PRANAM) — to discourage the use of chemical fertilisers in India.

What is the PM-PRANAM scheme?

The PM-PRANAM scheme seeks to incentivise states that use lesser amounts of chemical fertilisers in a particular year, something that will be gauged against the average quantity of fertilisers used by the state over the past three years.

In doing so, the scheme also intends to reduce the subsidy burden of chemical fertilisers, which, according to a report by The Indian Express, is expected to increase to Rs 2.25 lakh crore in 2022-2023, 39 per cent higher than last year's figure of Rs 1.62 lakh crore.

Why is the scheme being introduced?

The total requirement of four main fertilisers in India, namely Urea, DAP (di-ammonium phosphate), MOP (muriate of potash), NPKS (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulphur), increased by 21 per cent between 2017-18 and 2021-2022, prompting the government to increase subsidies it already provides for chemical fertilisers.

To illustrate, while the Union Budget had set aside an amount of Rs 79,530 crore for fertiliser subsidy in 2021-22, the final figure touched Rs 1.62 lakh crore.

Given this trend, the introduction of the the PM-PRANAM scheme is expected to reduce the burder on the exchequer.

When will the scheme be introduced?

According to IE, the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, which formulated the scheme, shared the idea with state government officials during the National Conference on Agriculture for Rabi Campaign, which took place on September 7.

The ministry has now reportedly sought suggestions on the proposed scheme. The draft of the scheme is expected to be drawn up after the conclusion of inter-ministerial discussions and the incorporation of the views of various departments.