The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet on Thursday approved an action plan to distribute seed minikits containing seeds of lentils and gram to help out farmers whose crops were destroyed due to delayed monsoon and the excessive rain that lashed the state recently.

The Cabinet also approved a proposal to set aside a corpus of Rs 32 crore for the plan under the category of subsidy for certified seeds.

According to the approved plan, the government will distribute 1 lakh seed minikits of gram (16 kg seeds per kit) and 1.5 lakh seed minikits of lentils (eight kg seeds per kit) among the farmers of the state.

Government sources said under the scheme, 25 per cent beneficiaries would be farmers belonging to the  Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, while 75 per cent of the beneficiaries would be from other registered castes. Each beneficiary will be eligible for one seed kit.

The government would make efforts to ensure that 30 per cent of the beneficiaries are women. Also, these kits will be distributed on priority basis to farmers who couldn’t sow the kharif crop. This facility would be available on a first-come-first-serve basis.

The Cabinet also cleared a  proposal to establish an organic farming board and to establish the Uttar Pradesh Innovation Fund to provide easy funding to startups and innovative projects.

In another significant decision, the cabinet approved the proposal for setting up unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)/ drone technology-based Centre of Excellence at Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur. The centre would be built at a cost of Rs 20.3 crore under the Uttar Pradesh Startup Policy-2020.

Apart from the Electric Vehicle Policy, the state cabinet cleared two more significant policies on Thursday – the Uttar Pradesh Dairy Development and Milk Production Promotion Policy 2022 and the Uttar Pradesh Textiles and Garment Policy 2022, while keeping the upcoming Global Investors Summit in mind.

With the aim of encouraging milk-based industries in the state and attracting Rs 5,000 crore investment in the sector over the next five years, the cabinet cleared the Dairy Development and Milk Production Promotion Policy, 2022. The policy will help the government increase milk processing from the current 10 per cent to 25 per cent.

As part of the two policies, entrepreneurs setting up and expanding milk processing units will be eligible for exemptions of up to Rs 15 crore

The new policy will emphasise on increasing the state’s milk processing capacity. At present, only about 10 per cent of the surplus milk produced in the state is marketable.

To promote this, the dairy policy will offer a subsidy of 10 per cent on the cost of plant, machinery, technical civil works and spare parts or a maximum subsidy of Rs 5 crore for setting up and expansion of milk processing units. Under the new policy, provisions have been made for capital investment grant, interest subvention, market development and brand incentive, standardization incentive, patent/ design registration incentive, electricity duty, electricity and stamp duty reimbursement and improvement of Regional Cooperative Dairy Federation Limited.

Meanwhile, under the Uttar Pradesh Textiles and Garment Policy-2022, 25 per cent capital subsidy will be reimbursed to textile and garment units on the plant and machinery purchased. Apart from this, an additional capital subsidy will be reimbursed at the rate of 5 per cent to textile and garment  units to be set up in the Madhyaanchal region of the state and 10 per cent to

textile and garments units to be set up in Purvanchal and Bundelkhand.

The Cabinet also approved a proposal to demolish the famous Gomti  government guest house in Lucknow and for constructing a new guest house in its place.

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