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Centre wants to roll out farmers' income scheme before code of conduct sets in
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SME Times News Bureau | 05 Feb, 2019
The government is planning to make the first payment under the Direct
Income Support (DIS) for farmers, announced in the Interim Budget,
before the model code of conduct sets in once the Lok Sabha election
schedule is put in place.
The government wants that the final
list of beneficiaries is prepared and the first due is paid before the
model code of conduct comes into force so that the farmers get their
instalments under the PM-KISAN scheme when the Lok Sabha polls are
underway, officials said.
With the rural distress said to have
been a major contributor for the BJP's defeat in the Assembly elections
in three Hindi heartland states, the central government is banking on
the DIS of Rs 6,000 per year to change the tide.
The Agriculture
Ministry has asked the states to share land records as soon as possible
so that the first instalment of Rs 2,000 is paid before the first week
of March. Going by past experiences, the code of conduct for the 2019
general elections is expected to be announced in the first week of
March.
According to informed sources, a senior Agriculture
Ministry official has undertaken a tour of the some state capitals to
expedite the procedure as a delay may leave out many farmers, making it
difficult for the government to include them in the second instalment,
mostly due in May, when the model code of conduct would be in force and
the election would be at its peak.
"In some states, land records
are well-kept and updated. However, there are a few states where the
database about farmers is not maintained properly. So the Ministry is
approaching some states with urgency," said an official.
"We want
to be ready with the final list and start payments in the first week of
March. If it is done before the elections are announced, we are sure
there will not be any hurdle when the polls are underway."
In the
Interim Budget, the government announced a DIS of Rs 6,000 per year to
12.5 crore small and marginal farmers with land holding of up to 2
hectares under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN).
The
government will incur an annual expenditure of Rs 75,000 crore in
2019-20 while it has allocated Rs 20,000 crore in the revised estimates
of the current year as the scheme will be effective from December 2018.
The
scheme is based on the lines of Telangana's Rythu Bandhu and Odhisha's
KALIA (Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation)
programmes.
Unlike the KALIA scheme, the Centre's PM-KISAN does
not include landless farmers, sharecroppers and those indulging in
allied activities such as fishery and animal husbandry.
If
farmers in Odisha get more assistance through PM-KISAN, then it is to be
welcomed, said Prasanna Acharya, a Rajya Sabha member and head of Biju
Janata Dal (BJD) farmers' wing.
"However, tenant farmers,
sharecroppers and those busy with animal husbandry and fishery are not a
part of it. The KALIA scheme takes care of everyone, almost 92 per cent
of farmers are covered. And the income support amount is also more, Rs
10,000 per year," he said.
A senior Ministry official said the
landless farmers could not be a part of the PM-KISAN scheme since the
government did not have the required data.
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