Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Monday disbursed Rs1,293 crore to 46 lakh farmers under its flagship Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme and announced the extension of the programme for three more years.
The chief minister on the occasion also inaugurated 30 KALIA centres in all the 30 districts of the state.
“KALIA centres will work as innovation and resource centres”, Patnaik said.
Under the KALIA scheme, the Odisha government provide financial assistance to needy farmers to carry forward their cultivation activities. A farmer gets Rs4,000 per annum in two instalments, Rs2,000 for Kharif and Rs2,000 for rabi crop.
The disbursed amount included Rs933 crore as the 11th instalment of KALIA assistance for Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to 45.67 lakh small and marginal farmers (SMFs) and 40,000 landless agricultural households (LAHs) for the Kharif season.
Similarly, an additional assistance of more than Rs360 crore was disbursed for over 18 lakh eligible landless agricultural households. The farmers, who have already received all three instalments (Rs12,500 in total) of livelihood cash support under the scheme, now get Rs2,000 for this Kharif season.
Patnaik also announced the extension of the KALIA scheme for three more years till 2026-27. The government will spend Rs6,030 crore for this, an official release issued by the CMO said.
This apart, Patnaik also extended the purview of educational scholarships to children of beneficiary farmers under the KALIA Yojana. This will now include the premier institutions in and outside the state. Earlier, the educational institutions for which scholarship was being provided were NIT, IIT, IIM, AIIMS, ICAR, etc.
“Every farmer’s family in Odisha must live with dignity, become empowered, and also take part in the progress of the state”, Patnaik said.
Agriculture department sources said that the farmers in Odisha have so far in five years been provided with KALIA assistance worth Rs13,793 crore.
PTI