The Maharashtra government on Thursday announced a financial benefit of Rs 6,000 per annum to farmers, in addition to a similar amount offered by the Centre to eligible cultivators, and a scheme for sustainable development of agriculture in the state Budget for 2023-24.
Presenting the Eknath Shinde-Bharatiya Janata Party's first Budget in the Assembly, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who holds the finance portfolio, said inclusiveness is absolutely essential for sustainable development of agriculture.
Two initiatives -- "Mahakrishivikas Yojana" for sustainable development of the farm sector and "Namo Shetkari Mahasanman Nidhi" for financial benefit of farmers -- were key highlights of the Budget. All aspects of farming - from production to value addition process -- will be financed by preparing an integrated crop-based plan for taluka and district-wise groups of farmers, said Fadnavis.
This will substantially increase the income of farmers and a provision of Rs 3,000 crore is being made for this scheme (Mahakrishivikas Yojana) for the next 5 years, he said. Fadnavis said the Namo Shetkari Mahasanman Nidhi, which seeks to provide Rs 6,000 per annum to eligible cultivators, will benefit 1.15 crore farmer families in Maharashtra.
An amount of Rs 12,000 will be deposited in the account of eligible state farmers every year, which includes Rs 6,000 from the Centre under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), he said. Under PM-KISAN, eligible farmers in the country are provided with a financial benefit of Rs 6,000 per year in three equal instalments of Rs 2,000 each every four months. The fund is directly transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
A sum of Rs 6,900 crore has been proposed in the 2023-24 Budget for the state-level financial scheme for farmers, said the deputy CM.
Fadnavis said farmers can register themselves on the portal of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (Centre-sponsored crop insurance scheme) by paying a fee of just Re 1.
The crop insurance premium will paid by the government and not farmers, and an annual outlay of Rs 3,312 crore has been proposed in the Budget for implementation of the scheme, he said.
The deputy CM said an amount of Rs 4,683 crore has been directly deposited in the bank accounts of 12.84 lakh farmers as an incentive for regularly repaying crop loans. An incentive of Rs 50,000 was announced for farmers in the last two Budgets (of the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi government), but the amount was not distributed. Fadnavis said an insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh will be given to families of accident-affected farmers.