51 lakh farmers have received financial assistance under Kalia

Odisha government Wednesday said as many as 51 lakh farmers have so far been provided with financial assistance under the state's flagship Kalia scheme.

Under the Kalia scheme, each farmer family gets Rs 5,000 financial assistance per crop. A farm household is entitled to get Rs 10,000 per year for two crops (Kharif and Rabi).

Agriculture and Farmer Empowerment Minister Arun Kumar Sahoo said in reply to written questions in the Assembly that 51,05,290 farmers have been provided assistance under the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (Kalia) scheme.

The minister said 36,34,710 small and marginal farmers and 14,70,580 landless farmers families have received benefits under the Kalia scheme.

The state government has plans to provide Kalia assistance to 75 lakh farmers under the scheme, he said.

The minister, however, said a total of 96.41 lakh farmers comprising 57.11 lakh small and marginal farmers and 39.30 lakh landless farmers have applied for the benefits of the Kalia scheme.

The minister said big farmers having more than 5 acre of land, income tax payers, government servants, pensioners and people from urban areas are not eligible for the scheme. The Minister said a budgetary provision of Rs 5,501 crore has been made for the Kalia scheme during 2019-20 fiscal.