More than 85 percent of India's farming households are small and marginal growers — and it is this overwhelming majority, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju argued on Friday, October 30, that the Modi government has kept at the centre of its agricultural policy. Quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi during what the post tags as #PMModiinGujarat, Rijiju pointed to two concrete shields the government has placed between small farmers and economic stress: direct cash transfers through PM-KISAN Samman Nidhi and an absorbed fertiliser-price shock that the Centre chose not to pass on to cultivators.

What PM Modi said about small farmers

The post quotes the Prime Minister directly: 'देश में छोटे किसानों की संख्या 85 प्रतिशत से ज्यादा है' ('More than 85 percent of the country's farmers are small farmers'). The statement frames the government's farm welfare architecture not as a niche intervention but as a programme designed for the statistical mainstream of Indian agriculture. 'Our government took care of these small farmers and reached help to them through PM Kisan Samman Nidhi,' the quote continues.

PM-KISAN: direct cash in a farmer's hand

Launched in February 2019, PM-KISAN is a central sector scheme that delivers Rs 6,000 per year — in three equal instalments — directly into the bank accounts of eligible landholding farmer families. The design bypasses intermediaries, making it one of India's largest direct benefit transfer programmes. For small and marginal holders who typically cultivate under two hectares, each instalment arrives at a critical input-purchase moment in the cropping calendar.

Fertiliser subsidy as a price buffer

The second pillar Rijiju highlights is the government's fertiliser subsidy. Global commodity markets turned turbulent in recent years — supply disruptions and energy-price spikes drove urea and complex fertiliser costs sharply higher internationally. The Prime Minister's quoted remarks acknowledge this directly: 'In the last few years, amid global uncertainties, fertiliser prices rose steeply, but our government, dedicated to farmers, did not let this burden fall on them.' The Union government has consistently absorbed a significant share of fertiliser input costs, keeping retail prices for farmers below market rates — a fiscal choice that has weighed heavily on subsidy allocations in successive Union Budgets.

Gujarat visit as the backdrop

The post is tagged #PMModiinGujarat, situating the remarks within an outreach visit to the Prime Minister's home state. Gujarat's agrarian economy — a mix of cash crops, cotton, groundnut and dairy — makes it a politically resonant stage for messaging on farm welfare. Rijiju, himself a senior BJP leader from Arunachal Pradesh and a member of the Union Cabinet, amplified the remarks as part of what appears to be a coordinated party communication around the visit.

With the next Union Budget cycle approaching and global input-cost pressures still a live variable, how the government calibrates its fertiliser subsidy bill and whether PM-KISAN payments see any revision will determine whether these policy commitments hold for the 85-percent majority they are designed to protect.