As told to Parliament (February 10, 2026): 5,300 organic farming clusters formed in Andhra Pradesh under PKVY

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As told to Parliament (February 10, 2026): 5,300 organic farming clusters formed in Andhra Pradesh under PKVY
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Summary
  • Over 91,000 Andhra farmers brought under PKVY since 2024

  • Over 29,000 public EV charging stations installed nationwide

  • Maharashtra sanctions Rs 9,700.87 crore flood relief for affected farmers

  • India’s installed solar capacity reaches 135.81 GW, wind 54.51 GW

  • NFHS-5 flags rising overweight and hypertension prevalence

As per information received from the Andhra Pradesh government, 5,300 clusters have been formed since the inception of the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) up to December 31, 2025, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan told the Lok Sabha.

Since April 1, 2024, 91,753 farmers, covering 38,097 hectares, have been brought under the scheme in the state up to December 31, 2025.

During this period, Rs 57.46 crore has been released to the state, of which Rs 28 crore has been utilised. According to the state government, 33,300 farmers under PKVY are registered under the Participatory Guarantee System (PGS)-India Organic Certification system. Of these, 15,433 farmers have been issued PGS certification, while 17,867 are at various stages of the certification process.

Seed Village Programme in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh

The Seed Village Programme was earlier implemented under the Sub-Mission on Seeds and Planting Material (SMSP) and is now part of the seed component of the National Food Security and Nutrition Mission (NFSNM). The programme has been restructured as ‘Assistance for Fostering Seeds of New Varieties’, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ramnath Thakur told the Lok Sabha.

It is being implemented in 34 districts of Maharashtra and 55 districts of Madhya Pradesh. During 2024-25, 339,551 farmers have benefited under the scheme in Maharashtra, including 12,548 farmers in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district. Similarly, 284,250 farmers have benefited in Madhya Pradesh during 2024-25.

EV charging stations

The government has taken steps to augment public charging infrastructure across the country and has allocated Rs 912.50 crore and Rs 2,000 crore under the FAME-II and PM E-DRIVE schemes respectively for the deployment of adequate public EV charging infrastructure across India, including Tier-2 cities and rural areas, to support the growth of electric mobility, Minister of State for Heavy Industries Bhupathiraju Srinivasa Varma told the Lok Sabha..

According to inputs received from Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), a total of 29,151 public EV charging stations have been installed across the country.

Compensation to farmers affected by floods in Maharashtra

The Maharashtra government informed that between June and September 2025, heavy rainfall and floods affected 9.84 million hectares, impacting 12.08 million farmers across 34 districts, Thakur told the Lok Sabha.

The state government conducted surveys of the affected areas and sanctioned Rs 9,700.87 crore as relief and compensation. In addition, assistance of Rs 10,000 per hectare, up to a maximum of three hectares, has been provided for seeds and other agricultural inputs for the rabi season. For this purpose, Rs 9,611.17 crore has been made available, the minister said.

Namo Drone Didi Scheme

The government has approved the ‘Namo Drone Didi’ scheme as a Central Sector Scheme to provide drones to Women Self-Help Groups (SHGs), with an outlay of Rs 1,261 crore for the period 2023-24 to 2025-26, Minister of State in the Ministry of Rural Development Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani told the Lok Sabha..

Lead fertiliser companies distributed 1,094 drones to SHG members in 2023-24. Of these, 500 drones were distributed under the Namo Drone Didi scheme to provide rental services to farmers for spraying nano-fertilisers.

Progress towards non-fossil fuel energy targets

As of December 31, 2025, installed solar capacity stands at 135.81 GW and wind capacity at 54.51 GW. India is on track to achieve its renewable energy targets, Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy and Power Shripad Yesso Naik told the Rajya Sabha.

However, challenges remain, including land acquisition, development of transmission infrastructure and meeting financing requirements to match the pace of renewable energy expansion.

PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana in Rajasthan

Since the launch of the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana in February 2024, 2,085,514 rooftop solar systems have been installed nationwide, benefiting 2,614,446 households, Naik told the Rajya Sabha. Central Financial Assistance (CFA) amounting to Rs 14,771.82 crore has been disbursed up to 31 December 2025.

In Rajasthan, 119,006 rooftop solar systems have been installed under the scheme, benefiting 122,027 households, with Rs 823.12 crore disbursed as CFA.

Rising prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents

According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) (2019-21), 24 per cent of Indian women and 23 per cent of Indian men are overweight or obese, Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Prataprao Jadhav told the Rajya Sabha. Additionally, 3.4 per cent of children under five are overweight (weight-for-height).

Data from the Indian Council of Medical Research’s National Non-Communicable Diseases Monitoring Survey (2017-18) indicate that the prevalence of obesity among adults aged 18-69 years is 6.2 per cent.

Rising burden of Non-Communicable Diseases in Punjab

The Punjab government has informed that, according to NFHS-5 and cancer registries maintained by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Population-Based Cancer Registries, the state shows a comparatively high burden of certain non-communicable diseases, Jadhav told the Rajya Sabha.

NFHS-5 indicates that the prevalence of hypertension among both men and women in Punjab is higher than the national average, while diabetes prevalence is broadly comparable to national levels, with marginal variation across sexes.

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