KRISHI UDAN Schemes

Krishi Udan Scheme is a convergence scheme where eight Ministries/Departments namely the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Development of North-eastern Region (DoNER) would leverage their existing schemes to strengthen the logistics for transportation of Agri-produce. In August 2020, the Ministry of Civil Aviation launched it on international and domestic routes to assist farmers in transporting agricultural products and increasing its value realisation.

Krishi Udan Scheme 2.0 was announced on 27 October 2021 enhancing the existing provisions, mainly focusing on transporting perishable food products from the hilly areas, North-Eastern States and tribal areas.

Challenges Faced in the Implementation:

1. Some states are wary of giving up tax breaks on air turbine fuel and other financial incentives that might entice competitor airlines to fly in their underdeveloped areas.
2. Because airports take up such large regions, land acquisition is difficult. Two issues are land scarcity and a large amount of capital.
3. The models’ financial viability in linking faraway regions causes policy ambiguity.
4. The airline sector is notorious for its fierce competition and high capital requirements. Because of the low profitability, they are hesitant to expand operations in areas with minimal passenger flow.

UDAN is a regional connectivity program by the Indian government. The full form of UDAN is Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik. Smaller regional airports are being planned to make aviation services more accessible to the general public. It’s one of the new policies that’s been in place since June 2016. Under the fourth phase of the UDAN Regional Connectivity Scheme, the Civil Aviation Ministry has approved 78 new routes. Under the UDAN system, 766 routes have been approved thus far.