Ahead of polls, states lure farmers with interest payout for defaulters

In the last assembly polls in MP, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, the incumbent BJP lost power to Congress due to discontent among the farming class that saw consecutive years of low prices

With elections in the three Hindi heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh along with the southern citadel of Karnataka due in the next few months, all the incumbent governments have gone out of their way in their last full budgets to woo farmers, who form an important and decisive constituency in all of them.

In the last assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments lost power to the Opposition Congress partly due to discontent among the farming class that saw consecutive years of low prices coupled with other issues including anti-incumbency.

In Karnataka, despite Congress being the ruling party, BJP failed to dislodge it comprehensively and the state threw a hung Assembly in 2018 with BJP emerging as the single largest party.

To ward off such an eventuality, the state government has initiated a series of measures for almost all sections of society with a special emphasis on the farming and the rural class.

Karnataka

Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai in his last full budget tabled in the Assembly in February, raised the limit of interest-free short-term loans given to farmers from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh from the coming financial year.

This would ensure the availability of hassle-free and need-based loan facilities for making necessary preparation for farm-related activities, Bommai, who also holds the finance portfolio, said while presenting the 2023-34 budget in the state Legislative Assembly.

He said in FY24, loans of around Rs 25,000 crore will be distributed to more than three million farmers.

He also announced an additional subsidy of Rs 10,000 in the year 2023-24 under a new scheme 'Bhoo Siri' for 'Kisan Credit Card' holders.

This would facilitate the farmers to purchase seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and other farm inputs in times of exigencies, the chief minister said.

The state would contribute Rs 2,500 and NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) would give Rs 7,500.

In his budget speech, the chief minister also announced the 'Shram Shakthi' scheme that would provide financial assistance of Rs 500 per head every month to landless women farm labourers through direct benefit transfer (DBT).

He also announced a Jeevan Jyoti Insurance scheme worth Rs 150 crore for farmers and families, allocated a sum of Rs 50 crore for the scheme to procure 100 harvesters for farmers, announced an investment of Rs 10 lakh on FPOs and set a target of building 1000 small tanks in the country.

In total, a sum of around Rs 40,000 crore has been allocated for the agriculture sector in the Budget.

Madhya Pradesh

In Madhya Pradesh, the state government has decided to payout the interest of all crop loan defaulters, while it allocated Rs 3,200 crore for paying Rs 10,000 per farmer per year as part of Chief Minister Kisan Kalyan Yojana.

This includes Rs 6,000 per year as part of the PM-KISAN scheme of the Central government.

The state government also announced a slew of irrigation schemes and special packages for farmers costing around Rs 12,000 crore.

Rajasthan

In neighboring Rajasthan, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot announced free electricity up to 2,000 units per month for farmers that would directly benefit around 1.1 million farmers in the state.

“Providing uninterrupted power supply for farming is a priority for the state government,” Gehlot said while tabling the annual budget.

He also announced the enactment of the Rajasthan Farmers Debt Relief Act in order to protect the land of small and marginal farmers from being auctioned off.

Chhattisgarh

In Chhattisgarh, too, where the ruling Congress is facing a stiff challenge from BJP, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’s government made provisions of Rs 6,800 crore for a flagship scheme Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojana. The scheme Baghel said has turned Chhattisgarh, from ‘Dhaan Ka Katora’ (rice bowl) to ‘Dhan Ka Katora’ (money bowl).

The scheme envisages a payout to the paddy farmers for selling to government agencies over and above the fixed MSP.

Also, crops such as millets, etc are also procured by the government at fixed rates under the programme.

Baghel also announced the expansion of the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Landless Agricultural Worker Justice Scheme for rural areas as well as Nagar Panchayat area, plus a provision of Rs 250 crore was made for providing unemployment allowance at the rate of Rs 2,500 per month under a new scheme.