No plan to merge Kalia scheme with PM Kisan Yojana: Minister

The Odisha government on Wednesday said that it has no plan to merge its own

farmers welfare scheme, KALIA, with the PM Kisan Yojana. Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment minister Arun

Kumar Sahoo made this statement while replying to a question in the Assembly.

He said the eligible farmers will get Rs 10,000 per annum as financial assistance as announced by the state

government earlier. "Since the marginal and small farmers will get Rs

6,000 under the PM Kisan Yojana in three instalments, therefore those beneficiaries will avail another Rs 4,000

under the Kalia scheme during the year," the minister said. The Kalia scheme was launched by Chief Minister Naveen

Patnaik on December, 2018. Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)

an income support of Rs 6,000 per year is provided to all farmer families across the country in three equal installments

of Rs 2,000 each every four months. Shedding its initial hesitation, the Odisha government

had decided to be part of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, launched from Gorakhpur on February 24, 2019.

Since then both PM-KISAN and Kalia projects are in operation in the state.

Sahoo said the government has identified as many as 45,965 ineligible beneficiaries who availed financial

assistance under the Kalia scheme. Steps are being taken to ensure that the ineligible

farmers return the money they availed under Kalia programme, he said, adding that 1,863 farmers have so far returned the

cash they received in their bank accounts. Opposition Congress and BJP raised questions on the

number of beneficiaries under the Kalia scheme. They alleged that Odisha government has presented contradictory statements

on the total number of beneficiaries under the Kalia scheme. While presenting the state budget in the Assembly on

Tuesday, Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari informed the House that 43 lakh beneficiaries have received assistance under the

scheme. A sum of Rs 3,195 crore has been allocated under the Kalia scheme for 2020-21 fiscal.

The Congress MLAs claimed that the Agriculture minister in reply to a question by party's Kantabanji MLA

Santosh Singh Saluja in the Assembly had said that the state government has provided financial assistance to 50,85,290

Kalia beneficiaries. The Opposition members sought a clarification from the

Finance minister about the discrepancy in numbers and details of the 7.85 lakh beneficiaries who have received the financial

assistance. "The government cannot explain the difference in

number of beneficiaries because many people were given financial assistance more than one time and the list also

included name of government servants in place of farmers," Leader of the Opposition Pradipta Kumar Naik of BJP said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)