Bargarh: The state government launched the KALIA (Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation) programme to promote agriculture and increase the income of poor, small, marginal farmers and sharecroppers in the next three years.
Bargarh is a major paddy producing district. After the launch of the scheme, 3,50,497 farmers have applied for assistance under the scheme. Day by day the number of applicants is soaring.
But rising hopes about the scheme are adding to the problems of the administration. Meanwhile, many farmers have been found ineligible for the scheme’s benefits.
Reports said after checking documents, the names of 2,94,971 farmers were included in the list published in the first phase.
In the second phase, another list of 40,634 farmers has been prepared. The problem is that many people ineligible for its benefits are applying.
Now, after transfer of money into bank accounts, farmers are rushing to banks. Those who have failed to get the scheme’s benefits are sore. Many people are keeping their fingers crossed hoping to receive benefits in the next phase.
The state has claimed that the scheme will help landless, small and marginal farmers and sharecroppers. However, agriculture experts wonder how the administration will fulfil the hopes of the farmers as the number of applications is increasing.
Experts say it will be difficult for the administration to pick beneficiaries from the huge number of applicants.
Here are some views of farmers on KALIA.
Utparna Kumar Bhoi, farmer leader, said, “It is not KALIA, but Halia (local word for exhaustion). This scheme will in no way benefit farming. Farmers need to get rid of the burden of loans. We need a hike in MSP and pension like government employees. Only then can we consider the government as sincere.”
Jethu Bhoi, another farmer leader, said, “General elections are coming. The state and the Centre are announcing schemes for farmers. The Congress is luring us with the promise of loan waivers. KALIA is good for farmers. But that will not solve our problems. We demand fixing the paddy MSP as per recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission.”
Farmer Gourachandra Khamari said, “The assistance promised under KALIA is nothing but a bribe as elections are round the corner. We see that farmers are facing a lot of problems in getting its benefits. It is all about votes, in fact farmers will not get any benefit from it.”
“KALIA will in no way help farmers. Some farmers are getting its benefits while many others have not got it. In the Assembly, it was unanimously agreed that the MSP of paddy should be Rs 2,930 a quintal. But that is not being implemented. KALIA has a lot to do with vote bank politics,” Laxman Pradhan, a farmer, said.
Deputy Director of Agriculture, Dinabandhu Gandhi, said, “During vetting only eligible people are being selected. About 42,000 farmers have received assistance in the district. Steps are being taken to remove the bottlenecks that have cropped up. Now applications are being invited for the scheme’s second phase.”
PNN
