Hike PM-KISAN assistance to Rs 10,000: Odisha CM urges PM Modi

Bhubaneswar: A day before the launch of Central Government’s PM-KISAN Yojana, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik yesterday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging the latter to enhance the assistance under the scheme to a minimum amount of Rs 10,000 per annum per beneficiary family.

Patnaik also requested the PM to consider inclusion of landless agricultural labourers, sharecroppers and vulnerable agricultural households in the PM-KISAN.

Mentioning about the benefits of the Odisha Government’s Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme, the CM wrote that under the scheme not only small and marginal farmers but landless agricultural labourers, sharecroppers and vulnerable agricultural households are also covered.

“These categories of agricultural workers are at the bottom of the agriculture economy pyramid and they deserve special care and attention. Rural prosperity and reduction in poverty cannot be achieved without an adequate focus on these weaker sections of the populace,” Patnaik stated.

Worth mentioning, under the PM-KISAN, Rs 6,000 will be given per year to small and marginal farmer families having combined land holding/ownership of upto 2 hectares. The amount will be given in three installments of Rs 2000 each.