JOIN US The government on Tuesday released the Centre’s Rs 265 crore as input subsidy to farmers which gets deposited directly into their bank accounts. In all, 4.47 lakh farmers will benefit from the subsidy. This comes at a time when farmers are facing severe drought.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah formally launched the process of crediting the subsidy online to farmers’ accounts before holding a video conference with deputy commissioners and ZP CEOs to assess the drought scene in the state.
According to norms, input subsidy is provided to farmers to compensate for the losses suffered before crop loss due to inputs like seeds and fertilisers.
The subsidy is paid utilising grants provided by the Centre for drought relief. So far, Rs 936 crore has been paid to 12.03 lakh farmers as input subsidy. Siddaramaiah recently launched Parihara — the programme which allows direct benefit transfer to farmers. Aadhaar numbers of farmers are used for the transfer. However, keeping the drought in view, Siddaramaiah has asked officials to transfer money even to farmers who have not linked their account to Aadhaar till April 30. But later, farmers will have to provide their Aadhaar numbers.
Siddaramaiah directed officials to attend to problems related to drinking water shortage, unemployment and fodder shortage without delay. He said deputy commissioners could take over private borewells in areas where there is severe shortage of drinking water. “However, don’t harass private borewell owners and pay them the required rentals fixed by the local administration,” Siddaramaiah said.
The chief minister said the government has taken over 607 private borewells after taking the owners’ consent.