BHUBANESWAR: Ahead of the kharif season, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi disbursed the second dose of financial assistance of Rs 1,025 crore under the CM Kisan Yojana to around 51 lakh farmers on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya here on Wednesday.
Majhi had distributed the first dose assistance of Rs 2,000 to each farmer beneficiary at Sambalpur last year on the occasion of Nuakhai.
Nearly 51 lakh farmers across the state received the assistance via direct benefit transfer (DBT), enabling them to prepare for the upcoming kharif operation which starts from Akshaya Tritiya. As many as 25,532 farmers of urban areas received the financial aid for the first time.
Of the total Rs 1,025 crore disbursed under CM Kisan Yojana on the day, it will benefit 49,482 landless and 2,382 tribal farmers.
The chief minister and deputy chief minister KV Singh Deo also participated in the ‘Akhi Muthi Anukula’, a traditional ritual in which farmers symbolically sow the first seeds after ploughing their fields on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya, at OUAT farm in Baramunda in the city.
Addressing a state-level function Krushak Divas, the chief minister also thanked the farmers of the state from converting Odisha from a food-deficit to food-surplus state. Sharing his experience as a farmer, Majhi said agriculture is a very tough job. He advised farmers to adopt cultivation of crops suitable to the climate conditions of their regions.
Highlighting measures taken by his government to improve the income of the farmers, the chief minister said the input assistance of Rs 800 per quintal of paddy over the minimum support price has been a great help to them. “We have set an ambitious target of creating additional irrigation potential for 15 lakh hectare in the next five years for which the government will spend Rs 1 lakh crore,” he added.
Majhi also released the book, ‘Krushak Sangita’, a collection of poems written by Swabhabakabi Gangadhar Meher in 1921. Some of the descendants of the poet were also present on this occasion. OUAT vice-chancellor Prof Pravat Kumar Roul, principal secretary, Agriculture, Arabinda Padhee and Agriculture director Shubham Saxena also spoke on the occasion.
As per the CM Kisan Yojana, each eligible farmer is entitled to Rs 4,000 annually, disbursed in two phases- Rs 2,000 on Nuakhai and another Rs 2,000 on Akshaya Tritiya. This apart, landless farmers will also receive Rs 12,500 each year in three instalments under the scheme.