Landless farmers in Odisha to get Kalia benefit on Feb 15

Odisha government will start distributing financial assistance to landless farmers under the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme on February 15, a senior official said Tuesday.

Agricultrure secretary Saurav Garg said this after Chief Secretary A P Padhi reviewed the Kalia scheme.

"An amount of Rs 5,000 each will be credited to the bank accounts of around 4.5 lakh landless farmers on February 15 through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode under KALIA scheme", Garg told reporters.

The agriculture secretary also informed that the state government will provide second phase assistance to about 14 lakh small and marginal farmers on February 22. As many as 12.45 lakh small and marginal farmers have availed Rs 5,000 each in the first phase.

Under the provision of KALIA scheme, the small and marginal farmers, share croppers, landless agricultural labourers and farmers in distress were likely to get financial assistance for agumenting their income.

Kalia scheme also has provision of giving financial assistance of Rs 25,000 per farm family over five seasons will be provided to small and marginal farmers so that farmers can purchase inputs like seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and use assistance towards labour and other investments. This scheme was implemented from current Rabi Season 2018-19 onwards.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has claimed that about 92 per cent households linked to cultivation will get benefit from Kalia scheme.

A landless agriculture worker will be eligible to get Rs 12,500 in three installments for livelihood activities like goatery, backyard poultry, poultry, apiculture, mushroom cultivation, duckery and fishing kit, the official said.

Three installments would be provided in phases of Rs 5,000, Rs 3,000 and Rs 4,500 respectively to landless farmers.

The first installment of Rs 5,000 through direct benefit transfer under Kalia scheme for landless agriculture workers will be initiated on February 15 by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at a convention in Kendrapara.

The second and third installments would likely to be released subsequently.

While the second installment of Rs 3,000 will be given after the beneficiary undergoes Gram Panchayat-level orientation and block-level training, the last installment of Rs 4,500 would be released once the Gram Panchayat Nodal Officers (GPNOs) verifies the progress of the livelihood projects and the beneficiary having proper asset under the assistance.

The GPNOs will post the geo-tagged images of the projects of the beneficiaries at appropriate sites.

The state government will organize a trainer of trainers (TOT) or master trainers programme at Krushi Bhawan on February 14 in order to impart quality training to propagate livelihood activities among landless agricultural workers, who will get financial assistance under KALIA scheme.