The Konkan region has the highest number of small and marginal farmers (Photo: Pradeep Gaur/ Mint)
2 min read . Updated: 08 Feb 2019, 12:34 AM ISTAbhiram Ghadyalpatil
- Of Maharashtra’s 15.3 mn farmers, around 12 mn hold lands up to 2 hectares, making them small and marginal farmers
- The state agriculture census conducted in 2015-16 pegged the total number of farmers in Maharashtra at nearly 15.3 million
MUMBAI: Around 80% of Maharashtra’s more than 15 million farmers stand to gain from the direct income support scheme or the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Samman Nidhi Yojana announced in the interim budget by the Narendra Modi government last week, Maharashtra agriculture and revenue minister Chandrakant Patil said at a presentation made to the state cabinet on Thursday. These small and marginal farmers would together get direct benefit of a total of ₹7,200 crore, which would be transferred into their bank accounts, he said.
Railway minister Piyush Goyal, who is also holding charge of the finance ministry, announced the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Samman Nidhi Yojana on 1 February with an annual outlay of₹75,000 crore, of which ₹20,000 crore have been allocated in the current fiscal. Each beneficiary family of a farmer is to get₹6,000 per annum under this scheme in three instalments of₹2,000 each.
The state agriculture census conducted in 2015-16 pegged the total number of farmers in Maharashtra at nearly 15.3 million, Patil said. Of these, nearly 12 million farmers hold farmland up to 2 hectares, putting them in the category of small and marginal farmers and thus making them beneficiaries of the direct income support scheme.
“These farmers would get (a total of) ₹7,200 crore by way of direct transfer of benefit into their accounts. The state government has issued instructions to all district collectors to come up with detailed information on all farmers so that the assistance reaches only eligible people," Patil said.
Of the six revenue divisions in Maharashtra, the Konkan division has the highest percentage of small and marginal farmers—84.5% of the total 1.4 million farmers. In the Pune division, 84% of total 3.7 million farmers have been identified as small and marginal, while 79.5% farmers of total 3.9 million farmers in the Aurangabad division are placed in this category. The Aurangabad division, which is the Marathwada region of the state, has been the epicentre of a farm crisis along with Vidarbha and is also the region where the intensity of drought announced in Maharashtra in 2014-15, 2015-16, and 2018-19 is the most severe.
The Nashik division has 78% small and marginal farmers in a total pool of 2.6 million farmers, Nagpur division 76% of the total 1.5 million, and the Amravati division 73% of the total 1.9 million farmers, according to data collected by the agriculture census in Maharashtra in 2015-16.
Some sections of small and marginal farmers who may qualify for the scheme according to the criterion of holding up to 2 hectares of land have been disqualified as beneficiaries in line with the other criteria fixed by the Centre, Patil said. These include sitting and former MPs, MLAs, and MLCs, people who have held constitutional posts, sitting and former members of local bodies and municipalities, central and state government employees including those working in autonomous government agencies and undertakings, professionals, and people who have filed their income tax returns in the last fiscal. “The government will strictly implement the eligibility criteria," Patil said.
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