Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced an annual direct cash transfer of Rs 4,000 to farmers who are listed as beneficiaries of PM Samman Nidhi scheme and promised to take effective measures to double farmers’ income by year 2022.
Thus, about 80 lakh farmers in the state who are beneficiaries of PM Samman Nidhi, as per government officials, will now get Rs 10,000 per annum as assistance, including Rs 6,000 from PM Samman Nidhi and Rs 4,000 from the state. The assistance from the state will be given in two equal instalments of Rs 2,000 each.
Speaking at a function organised for farmers in Bhopal, Chouhan said, “Mukhyamantri Kisan Kalyan Yojna (chief minister farmers’ welfare scheme) is being introduced in Madhya Pradesh. Under the scheme, the beneficiaries of PM Samman Nidhi—farmers’ families--will get Rs 4,000 in two equal instalments.”
He said, “We have decided that all the schemes meant for farmers like relief under revenue circular book (RCB), PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, loans at zero percent interest rate, Prime Minister crop insurance scheme etc will be implemented in a package for the sake of holistic development of farmers.”
He enumerated his government’s efforts to ensure the benefit of various welfare programmes reached the farmers while promising to work towards doubling their income by 2022.
{{/usCountry}}He enumerated his government’s efforts to ensure the benefit of various welfare programmes reached the farmers while promising to work towards doubling their income by 2022.
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“We implemented again the government’s scheme to provide loans to farmers at zero percent interest rate. The farmers were given benefits of Pradhan Mantri Samman Nidhi and crop insurance scheme. Farmers were given more than Rs 27,000 crore against procurement of food grains. We will not spare any effort to double the income of farmers till 2022,” Chouhan said.
However, Congress downplayed the announcement and said it was likely to be like previous announcements which “failed” to provide any relief to farmers in reality.
“Had the CM been serious about giving this financial assistance of Rs 4,000 to farmers, he would have made this announcement in the state assembly itself, which held its one-day session only yesterday and he would also have announced a budget provision for the same. Further, since it’s a policy decision of the government, would the CM tell people as to when this decision was taken by his cabinet? So far, we have no knowledge that it was decided in any cabinet meeting. This is all to mislead people for votes in the ensuing by-election,” said Bhupendra Gupta, state Congress spokesperson.