Farmers enrolled under Kalia Scheme to get money by Jan 26

Odisha's cooperation minister S N Patro Saturday said the beneficiaries, who have enrolled under the KALIA scheme in the first phase, will receive monetary assistance by January 26.

Patro said around 12.4 lakh small and marginal farmers who are in transaction with the state government, will get Rs 5,000 each for one crop as per the provision of the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme.

The minister said the financial assistance will be directly deposited in the bank accounts of the beneficiary farmers.

Patro also informed that the farmers, who are applying for enrolment in the KALIA Scheme during the extended deadline till January 15, will be verified by the officials concerned for authenticity.

After receiving the final list of the new applicants, the crop assistance money will be disbursed, Patro said.

While January 15 is the last date for submission of the application for the first phase under KALIA scheme, the second phase will be from January 25 to February 5.

The date for the third phase will be decided later, he added.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has directed the officials to ensure that every eligible farmer is included in the scheme.

The state government had launched the KALIA scheme on December 31 last year to expedite growth in the agriculture sector and reduce poverty.

The chief minister, who refused to go for farm loan waiver in the state, had claimed that KALIA scheme will cover 92 per cent of the cultivators, loanee as well as non-loanee farmers, share croppers (actual cultivators) and landless agricultural labourers.

While the small and marginal farmers will get Rs 10,000 per annum as financial assistance for input cost for cultivation (Rs 5,000 for kharif crop and another Rs 5,000 for Rabi crop), the landless farmers would get Rs 12,500 for agricultural allied activities such as goat farming, poultry farming, duckery, beekeeping, mushroom cultivation and so on.

Similarly, the vulnerable cultivators or landless agricultural labourers will get financial assistance of Rs 10,000 per family per year to enable them to take care of their sustenance.

The cultivator or landless agricultural labourers who are very old, having disability or disease and are vulnerable for any other reason will benefit from the scheme.

Five lakh families will be covered every year.

This apart, KALIA scheme also has provision of Life Insurance Support to cultivators and Landless agricultural labourers and interest free crop loan component meant for all category of beneficiary.