Odisha prepares to give input subsidy to sharecroppers: SRC

The Odisha government today said actual cultivators, including sharecroppers, would get input subsidy over crop loss due to drought.
This was stated by Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) P K Mohapatra who in separate letters to collectors directed them to provide input subsidy to actual farmers instead of land owners.
Mohapatra said an additional Rs 100 crore has been sanctioned for the agricultural input subsidy.
Earlier, the state government had released Rs 113 crore for the purpose, he said.
Village committees would identify the real farmers who were entitled to get the benefits for the crop loss, he said.
Referring to the release of Rs 380 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), Mohapatra said the amount was the pending amount of Phailin assistance to Odisha by the Centre.

The state government was to receive Rs 399.83 crore for which the chief minister, the chief secretary and the former SRC had reminded the Centre on several occasions, he pointed out.

Mohapatra clarified that the Centre had not released any drought assistance to the state yet.
"The Central team, which had recently visited the state for an on-the-spot assessment of the drought, has submitted its report to the Centre on December 19. The exact amount of drought assistance would be known after the report is reviewed in two stages," the SRC said.
In the first stage, Mohapatra said the report will be reviewed by the Inter Ministerial Group (IMG) at a meeting to be presided over by the Union secretary, Agriculture.

After the IMG review, the report will be reviewed by the High Level Committee (HLC), which is chaired by the Union Home Minister, he said.
The state government, he said, has submitted a memorandum mentioning that the drought hit agriculture in 215 blocks spread over 26 districts. The state government has sought an assistance of Rs 2217.08 crore, he added.
On farmer suicide cases, Mohapatra said the investigation into the death of 122 farmers has been completed while the reports on the alleged suicide of 7-8 farmers have been sent to the Home department.