Maharashtra Govt’s Big Announcement Ahead Of Polls - Over 1 Crore State Farmers To Get Rs 12,000 Annually

Mumbai: The Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government on Tuesday rolled out a new financial scheme under which more than one crore farmers in the state will now be paid Rs 6,000 annually. Maharasthra farmers will now get a total of Rs 12,000 per year - Rs 6,000 from Centre and Rs 6,000 from the state government. The scheme, Namo Shetkari Mahasanman Yojana, was approved at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Talking to reporters after the meeting, CM Shinde said, "Today, decisions have been taken for the farmers in the cabinet meeting. Central Government had decided to give Rs 6,000 annually to farmers, and the same decision has been taken by the state in which Rs 6,000 will be given to farmers from the state."

Mumbai | Today, decisions have been taken for the farmers in the cabinet meeting. Central Government had decided to give Rs 6,000 annually to farmers, and the same decision has been taken by the state in which Rs 6,000 will be given to farmers from the state: Maharashtra Chief… pic.twitter.com/E6z1ikHrIs — ANI (@ANI) May 30, 2023

CM Shinde reiterated that the amount was in addition to Rs 6,000 already being paid to the farmers in instalments per year by the Centre under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana. The announcement implies that the state farmers will now get Rs 12,000 annually.  

More than one crore cultivators will benefit from the state government's new scheme, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said. Fadnavis, who is also the state's finance minister, announced the scheme in the 2023-24 budget which he presented in the Assembly in March.

While presenting the State Budget in the Assembly earlier, Fadnavis said that his government will transfer Rs 6,000 rupees per year to the bank accounts of farmers on the lines of the Union Government's flagship PM-KISAN scheme. The government will bear the cost of Rs 6,900 crore for the direct transfer to farmers and it is expected to benefit 1.15 crore agrarian families, he stated.

Fadnavis said in addition to that, the farmers will get crop insurance at just Re 1. In the previous scheme, farmers had to pay 2 per cent of the premium on crop insurance. The state government will now pay the instalment, Fadnavis said. The state exchequer will bear a cost of Rs 3312 crore for this, he stated.

The announcement by the Shinde government, which coincides with the completion of 9 years of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, is being seen as a major bid to reach out to farmers ahead of the crucial state assembly polls later this year and the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. 

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi

The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme, launched by PM Modi in 2019, aims to provide income support to all landholder farmer families across the country with cultivable land, subject to specific exclusions. In every four months period starting from April to July, August to November, and December to March of each fiscal year, the money is transferred to the farmers’ accounts in three equal instalments of Rs 2,000 each (Total Rs 6000/-).

This scheme uses Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode to send an amount of Rs 6,000 per year into the bank accounts of farming households across the country.