Over 42 lakh farmers in state to benefit from monthly cash scheme: Gujarat govt

Of the 42.47 lakh farmers in the state, 9.47 lakh are from 11 districts of water-starved Saurashtra region, officials said.

Till date, 1,47,144 farmers from Rajkot have registered themselves for the scheme, they added.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani oversaw the launch of the nation-wide scheme in the state at a public function in Rajkot where the Prime Minister’s event in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, was beamed live.

A host of ministers, including Agriculture Minister Ranchhod Faldu, also accompanied the chief minister at the event. Over 1,000 farmers from Rajkot district were invited to attend the event.

Meanwhile, Tribal Development Minister Ganpatsinh Vasava, who was at the launch of Pradhan Mantri Kissan Samman Nidhi in Varnama in Vadodara district, claimed that Krushi Mahotsav programme — an agri-input awareness scheme launched by then chief minister Narendra Modi in 2005— helped increase the state’s farm produce by over 11 times in the span of 14 years.

Vasava said, “The hardwork of farmers and the various pro-farmers schemes by the Central and the state governments has yielded results in terms of increase in the amount of farm produce, and the state has become the highest producers of groundnut, castor and cotton. Till 2005, the total annual farm produce of the state amounted to only 9,000 crore quintal. But, after the collaborative efforts of farmers and the government, the farm produce has increased to over 1 lakh crore.”

Hailing the PM-KISAN, the cash to farmers scheme, as a much better pro-farmer idea than waiving farm loans, the BJP leader hit out at the Congress, alleging that the Opposition’s scheme gave little relief to farmers of Gujarat.

“When the Congress was ruling, they had brought a scheme to waive loans of farmers. They waived Rs 75,000 crore. But, this was for only one time that they brought such a scheme for farmers in so many years. In that scheme, Gujarat’s share was only Rs 1,600 crore. But with the Pradhan Mantri Kissan Samman Nidhi, Gujarat will be getting Rs 270 crore in a one year, and this is going to happen every year. This scheme is much better than any farm loan waiver,” Vasava said.

Vasava claimed that through PM-KISAN, 47 lakh farmers from Gujarat will be benefited. “In Vadodara alone, officials have received 1,10,359 applications online, so far,” he added.

The event was delayed by an hour as the minister arrived late, following which the Prime Minister’s Mann Ki Baat broadcast ,which was a part of the schedule, was cut short and only last 10 minutes of it was played.