After Ladki Bahin, state once again dips into SC/ST funds for farmers scheme

MUMBAI: After diverting over ₹750 crore a month from Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) funds to finance the vote-catching Ladki Bahin scheme, the Maharashtra government has now decided to use the same fund source for the Namo Shetkari Mahasanman Nidhi Yojana (NSMNY)

MUMBAI: After diverting over ₹750 crore a month from Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) funds to finance the vote-catching Ladki Bahin scheme, the Maharashtra government has now decided to use the same fund source for the Namo Shetkari Mahasanman Nidhi Yojana (NSMNY).

An agriculture department official in the know of the developments said that the state government was facing a fund shortfall and was thus falling back on the SC/ST funds. “It will divert ₹1,300 crore from the social justice and tribal development departments to finance this cash assistance scheme for farmers,” he told HT.

The government announced NSMNY, modelled on the lines of the Centre’s PM Kisan Yojana, in June 2023. Eligible farmers receive ₹2,000 every four months under both schemes. The Maharashtra scheme covers more than nine million farmers and entails an annual expenditure of about ₹5,500 crore.

An official from the state finance department pointed out that the Finance Commission, in its 2004 guidelines, had stated that SCs and STs should receive budgetary allocations in proportion to their population, and that these allocations should neither be diverted nor allowed to lapse. “Because these allocations are mandatory, making these departments relatively better off than others, the cash-strapped government has been diverting money from them,” he said. However, according to a social welfare department official, schemes such as Ladki Bahin have resulted in less money for welfare projects like Vasti Sudhar Yojana and scholarships for SCs and STs.

The state government is yet to release the two NSMNY instalments that were expected in March and July. According to agriculture department officials, the pending instalments will be released once the fund diversion process is completed. The annual budget of the social justice department is around ₹23,000 crore, while that of the tribal development department exceeds ₹15,000 crore.

₹6,000 less for farmers

The state government has also decided to deduct the ₹6,000 annual benefit provided under NSMNY from the amount payable under the proposed farm loan waiver scheme announced in the first week of July. “The finance department has advised that the ₹6,000 benefit under NSMNY should be adjusted against the loan waiver since it is already a financial benefit extended to farmers,” said an agriculture department official. The ₹40,000-crore farm loan waiver package has a maximum waiver of ₹2 lakh per farmer.