Centre to include all eligible farmers under PM-KISAN

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Bhubaneswar: Like Odisha’s KALIA scheme, all eligible small and marginal farmers of Odisha are likely to be covered under the ambitious Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme, sources said here Monday.
Sources said the Centre will not fix any bar or ceiling for the state as per selection of beneficiaries is concern. The Union government has decided to include all farmers who own two hectares of land as on February 1, 2019 and who are not in the exclusion category, they said.
The state has to ensure that every farmer who owns less than two hectares of land as on cut-off date, subject to exclusions, should be included in the list.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare has made this clarification to states like Assam and Jharkhand. “The verification and validation of beneficiaries list under PM-KISAN is the responsibility of the state government. There is no question of exemption at our level from any process of verification to be undertaken by the state authorities,” the ministry told Jharkhand agriculture secretary in a letter. If the same process is adopted for Odisha, all small and marginal farmers having two hectares of land will be covered under the Central scheme.
According to Agriculture Census 2015-16, 36.37 lakh marginal and 8.87 lakh small farmers are there in the state. It means, at least 45 lakh farmers will get financial aid under the Central scheme. The Centre announced PM-KISAN scheme in the Interim Budget 2019-20 presented February 1, under which Rs 6, 000 each was assigned to around 12 crore farmers with cultivable land up to two hectare in three instalments per year.
Under KALIA scheme too, the state has decided cover all eligible farmers in different phases. The state has, so far, distributed first instalment of Rs 5,000 to nearly 16 lakh farmers and landless labourers. The State is providing financial assistance of Rs 25,000 to small and marginal farmers over five crop seasons while the landless farmers and agriculture workers will be provided with Rs 12,500 in three instalments.