Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal Merge Schemes with PM-KISAN to Boost Farmers’ Income by 15%

New Delhi, February 28: Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union government announced the PM-KISAN scheme to improve the economic plight of ailing farmers in the country in their last interim Budget, just before the Lok Sabha Elections. With this, five state governments also announced that they would too provide similar cash-transfer programmes to help the farmers and help raise the average monthly incomes of nearly four million small and marginal farmers to go up between 5.6 percent and 14.9 percent.

Under the PM-KISAN – popularly known as Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi – small and marginal farmers would get financial aid of Rs 2,000 per quarterly, and the first instalment would be disbursed in their bank accounts via Direct Benefit Transfer by March-end. Along with the Central aid, five states — Telangana, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha — have announced or are already implementing state-level income support schemes involving direct cash transfers to farmers. Narendra Modi to Launch PM-KISAN Scheme from Gorakhpur, Transfer Rs 2,000 Each to 1 Cr Farmer’s Bank Accounts Though DBT.

Telangana:

Telangana became the first state government providing a financial aid of ₹8,000 per year for every acre of land owned by the farmers under its Rythu Bandhu scheme – launched in May 2018. Combining the PM-KISAN, the farmers in the state would receive an amount of Rs 14,000. Farmers in the state owning larger lands would gain more financial aid, as the cash transfer is on a per acre basis.

It is to be known that National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in its All India Financial Inclusion Survey released in August 2018 stated that monthly farm household income in India is Rs 8,931 a month, reports the Hindustan Times.

Now, with the current scheme in place, the farmers in Telangana would get a total benefit – from both the federal and state cash-transfer scheme – of Rs 46,000 a year, as the scheme is for a small and marginal farmer owning up to 2 hectares (or 5 acres) of land.

Due to this, the estimate to which a marginal farmer’s income rises to 42 percent monthly, when compared to their annual income of Rs 8,931. Even without state-level cash transfers, the PM-KISAN scheme alone adds the monthly income of farmer by 5.6 percent monthly – provided if the monthly income is assumed to be Rs 500.

Odisha:

Similarly, Odisha government’s Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) Scheme provides a sum of ₹10,000 a year for 1.4 million small farmers and Rs 12,500 for landless and tenant farmers. Along with the PM-KISAN, the amount stands at Rs 16,000 a year, or Rs 1,333 a month, representing a 14% rise in monthly incomes of small farmers in the state. Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Announced in Budget 2019: Rs 6,000 Per Year to be Given as Minimum Income Support To Farmers In Bank Accounts. 

Andhra Pradesh:

In Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu-led state government decided to merge the central scheme with PM-KISAN with its state scheme Annadatha Sukhibhava. The state government had announced a direct cash transfer of Rs 10,000 to nearly 6.5 million farmers, including small farmers, by merging their Rs 4,000 financial aid.

Jharkhand and West Bengal:

Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee too announced to merge their social welfare schemes for farmers with PM-KISAN, benefitting the marginal farmers of their respective states. Both the state governments had announced its cash-transfer scheme of Rs 5,000 per acre per farm household.

With these schemes in place, there would be an added expenditure to the respective state governments which would amount in several thousand crores. The economists are of the opinion that these increased allocations of resources, the capacity of states to make capital investments in agriculture will have a serious impact. However, they also see this move necessary for growth in the agricultural sector.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 28, 2019 05:26 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).