OdishaPlus Bureau
The Odisha government has decided to merge its flagship scheme to assist farmers with the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) yojana. Though agriculture and farmer empowerment minister Arun Kumar Sahoo has not revealed the details about the merger of the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (Kalia) scheme with the Centre’s program, the Odisha government has taken an irrevocable decision and has accordingly changed the guidelines for providing aid to farmers.
If the KALIA scheme was a “game-changer” in the general elections held during April-May this year, the reason for the merger could be many. One apparent reason is that there is a financial constraint on part of the Odisha government to keep running the program. According to the provisions of the ‘Kalia’ scheme, small and marginal cultivators are entitled to get Rs 10,000 in two installments for two crops in a year. The landless agricultural farmers are also eligible to get Rs 12,000 per annum for three years.
Under the PM-Kisan scheme, the central government is providing annually Rs 6,000 in three equal installments to about 14 crore farmers. According to the new guidelines for amalgamation, the farmers will get Rs 10,000 per annum as provided under the ‘Kalia’ scheme. On the other hand, the cultivators would not be able to avail the central’s assistance of Rs 6,000 annually after the merger. Of the annual financial assistance of Rs 10,000, the state government will give Rs 4,000 to farmers while the rest will be provided from the Centre’s scheme.
One silver lining is that the landless farmers will continue to get Rs 12,000 per year under the ‘Kalia’ scheme as promised before the election. A landless agriculture worker will be eligible to get `12,500 in three installments for livelihood activities like goatery, backyard poultry, poultry, apiculture, mushroom cultivation, duckery, and fishing kit. As per the scheme, the beneficiaries are entitled to the assistance in three installments of `5,000, `3,000 and `4,500 respectively.
That being so, the opposition BJP and Congress have criticized the state government’s decision to merge the two schemes. While the Congress party sees a nexus between the BJD and the BJP behind the decision, the BJP is more critical about the merger. The saffron party has strongly opposed the merger. Leading farmers’ body Nava Nirman Krushak Sangathan (NNKS) has also announced to protest against the merger of the schemes saying the people gave votes to the BJD after being inclined by ‘Kalia’ scheme and now the government is backing out. Even the farmers’ body has threatened to file public interest litigation in court against the government’s decision.
In all this brouhaha, what is clear is that Kalia was an election stunt and the program was launched without adequate financial provisions. There may not be an issue in the merger as ultimately it will benefit the farmers and also will bring transparency in the identification of beneficiaries. But the question remains is that the Odisha government’s enthusiasm to launch schemes are perfunctory and they have virtually come to naught.