On December 7, 2019, The Odisha government has reduced the amount of aid given to farmers under the KALIA (Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation) scheme from Rs 10,000 to Rs 4000 per year. This decision was taken by the state government after merging the KALIA scheme with Central Government’s Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) yojana.
Key Points:
i.Keeping similarity between the two schemes, small farmers will be given Rs 6,000 rupees for 2019-20 from the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana and Rs 4,000 rupees from 2020-21 under the KALIA Scheme, so that they can get ten thousand rupees annually.
ii.Since all eligible farmers will get assistance from PM-KISAN from 2019-20, no assistance will be given to these farmers under the Khalia Scheme for Rabi-2019. Landless cultivators (share croppers),who are not considered under PM-KISAN ,will receive KALIA assistance of Rs 10,000 annually.
In addition to this, farmers residing under urban local bodies will not be considered for both the KALIA & PM-KISAN schemes.They will be given a interest free crop loan up to Rs 1 lakh to all farmers by Cooperation department of Odisha.
iii.Background: It is noteworthy that Odisha Chief Minister (CM) Naveen Patnaik started the Kalia Scheme for the welfare of farmers in December 2018. Under this, a promise of giving financial assistance of ten thousand rupees to small and medium farmers was made in two instalments for separate crops in a year.
About Odisha:
Capital– Bhubaneswar
Governor– Ganeshi Lal
