Krishi UDAN scheme

 Krishi UDAN Scheme was launched in August 2020, on international and national routes to assist farmers in transporting agricultural products so that it improves their value realisation. 

The scheme aims to ensure seamless, cost-effective, time-bound air transportation and associated logistics for all Agri-produce originating especially from Northeast, hilly and tribal regions of the country. 

Objectives

The objectives are

• to increase the share of air in the modal mix for transportation of Agri-produce, which includes horticulture, fishery, livestock & processed products.
• To achieve better convergence on various components catering to the development of sustainable and resilient Agri-produce value chains across various schemes of the Central and State Governments and their associated agencies as well as the resources committed by the private sector to improvesupply chain competitiveness by
  • Providing more air connectivity (national and international) between origin-destination airports aimed at bringing in improved logistics efficiency.
  • Improving infrastructure and performance in processing of air cargo by all stakeholders, including Agri-produce, horticulture, fisheries, livestock products at airports and off-airport facilities, by regulatory participating governmental agencies (PGAs).
  • Imparting special focus to air freight of organic and natural produce of NER, Tribal and Hilly Districts.
  • Achieving better and timely mapping of Agri-produce production/ supply centres with domestic demand clusters and international markets in sync with the marketing strategies.
  • Promoting adoption of plant and animal quarantine and other regulatory requirements (at airport) in the export supply chains end-to-end.
  • Enabling paperless and contactless interface with all stakeholders through digitization and digitalization via integration with existing e-platforms and their creation as required.

Implementation agency

The enhanced version of the Krishi UDAN scheme was formulated with support from AAI Cargo Logistics and Allied Services Company Limited (AAICLAS) - a 100% subsidiary of the Airports Authority of India and Invest India, India’s national Investment Promotion & Facilitation Agency, under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. 

Key Highlights of KRISHI UDAN 2.0

Krishi UDAN 2.0 lays out the vision of improving value realization through better integration and optimization of Agri-harvesting and air transportation and contributing to Agri-value chain sustainability and resilience under different and dynamic conditions. The scheme proposes to facilitating and incentivizing movement of Agri-produce by air transportation.

• Facilitating and incentivizing movement of Agri-produce by air transportation: 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.
• Strengthening cargo related infrastructure at airports and off airports: Facilitating the development of a hub and spoke model and a freight grid. Airside transit and transshipment infrastructure will be created at Bagdogra and Guwahati airports, and at Leh, Srinagar, Nagpur, Nashik, Ranchi, and Raipur airports as a part of focus on NER, Tribal and Hilly Districts.
• Concessions sought from other bodies: Seek support and encourage States to reduce Sales Tax to 1% on ATF for freighters / P2C aircraft as extended in UDAN flights.
• Resources-Pooling through establishing Convergence mechanism: 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. 
• Technological convergence: Development of E-KUSHAL (Krishi UDAN for Sustainable Holistic Agri-Logistics). Platform to be developed facilitate in information dissemination to all the stakeholders. Furthermore, integration of E-KUSHAL with National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) is proposed.
• Total 53 airports are select for the first phase of Krishi UDAN 2.0. – the majority of them are operated by AAI.
• The strategic selection of the airports is primarily focused on northeast region. Additionally covers North, entire western coast and southern India (including two islands).
• Airports for implementation of KrishiUdan 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 connects them to international gateways of the country.
• Development of E-KUSHAL (Krishi Udaan for Sustainable Holistic Agri-Logistics). Proposed to develop a platform which will facilitate in information dissemination to all the stakeholders. This will be a single platform which will provide relevant information at the same time will also assist in coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the scheme. Proposed convergence of E-Kushal with National Agriculture Market (e-NAM).
• Facilitating the development of a hub and spoke model and a freight grid (identified locations for cargo terminals)

Implementation plan 

 Primarily  the scheme was focusing on 25 airports of NER, Hilly and Tribal region namely Agartala, Agatti, Barapani, Dehradun, Dibrugarh, Dimapur, Gaggai, Imphal, Jammu, Jorhat, Kullu (Bhuntar), Leh, Lengpui, Lilabari, Pakyong, Pantnagar, Pithoragarh, Port Blair, Raipur, Ranchi, Rupsi, Shimla, Silchar, Srinagar and Tezu. Subsequently, other 28 Airports of Airports Authority of India(AAI), namely, Adampur (Jalandhar), Agra, Amritsar, Bagdogra, Bareilly, Bhuj, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Goa, Corakhpur, Hindon, Indore, Jaisalmer, Jamnagar, Jodhpur, Kanpur (Chakeri), Kolkata, Nasik, Pathankot, Patna, Prayagraj, Pune, Rajkot, Tezpur, Trichy, Trivandrnm, Varanasi and Yisakhapatnam have been included in the Scheme

The Krishi UDAN 2.0 will be implemented at 53 airports across the country mainly focusing on Northeast 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 & consultations with other stakeholders.

7 focus routes & products

Source : PIB