'Suvarnabhoomi Yojane' evokes good response in Hassan district

The Department of Agriculture has received heaps of applications from farmers for the ambitious ‘Suvarnabhoomi Yojane’ being launched by the State government.

With last date for submitting the filled in applications is fast approaching, hundreds of farmers have flocked the Raitha Samparka Kendras in the district.

In all, 40,495 beneficiaries are to be selected from various departments, but by Saturday afternoon as many as 1,07,956 applications were received. Joint Director of Department of Agriculture Shivraj said majority of the applicants have opted for agriculture and horticulture.

Only 13,364 beneficiaries can opt for benefits in agriculture, 11,136 in horticulture, 1,000 farmers in in fisheries, 8,909 in organic farming and 4454 beneficiaries in biofuel.

Though there are selection options for the fisheries and other fields, the farmers have not shown much interest in submitting applications for those categories.

 The number of applications received for the department of agriculture alone is 73,084 and horticulture - 31,455, sericulture - 1419. Whereas Fisheries have received 298, Bee keeping - 109 and Bio-fuel 1,043.

Trusts would be formed at all the district centres to give impetus to organic farming and it will select 2,000 beneficiaries in each district.

The government has directed the department concerned to complete the selection process before the end of the current month and the first installment of money will be released during the same time. Funds have already been released for various departments and Rs 2.14 crore has been sanctioned for the department of agriculture, said Shivaraj.

Through lottery

Lottery system would be adopted to select the beneficiaries if the number of applicants are more than the prescribed numbers. The applications for fisheries, bio-fuel and sericulture are less and if any other district has more number of applicants then funds would be diverted from other districts for these departments. But, diverting funds between the departments is not possible and government’s approval is required for the same. If the panel headed by the Deputy Commissioner is competent to give a nod for this, then funds can be diverted to other necessary departments, he opined.

Online

The names of selected beneficiaries would be sent to the government through online. The farmer has to take up cultivation of the crop mentioned in the applications as the first installment of money is disbursed. The officials themselves will inspect the same and would recommend the second installment. If the funds are misused not only the other installments would be stopped but the farmer would be denied of any facilities for the next three years, he warned.

The money would be deposited directly to the account of the applicants, he said.