Union Minister gets Rs 99-lakh subsidy for his cucumber farm — from scheme under own ministry
As MoS Agriculture, Bhagirath Choudhary is ex-officio Vice-President of the board that approved his Rajasthan project for horticulture scheme; his is one of only 467 approvals last year; his aide says details will be disclosed to government.
Union Minister of State Bhagirath Choudhary In a sprawling farm in central Rajasthan, where stone walls and barbed wire shield an orchard, artificial ponds and four large polyhouses, a white signboard spells it out: “Assisted by National Horticulture Board, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Govt. of India”.
The beneficiary: “Mr. Bhagirath Choudhary”. The subsidy amount: “50% (99,60,000)”.
It’s what the signboard does not say that is most telling.
Choudhary is Minister of State in the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare. An investigation by The Indian Express reveals that he received the subsidy three months ago through a scheme under his own ministry and approved by a board in which he is ex-officio Vice-President.
The scheme to promote “commercial farming” — on a large scale for profit — of select vegetables and flowers comes under Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), which was launched in 2014-15 and is administered by the National Horticulture Board (NHB), an autonomous organisation under the administrative control of Choudhary’s Ministry.
The initiative offers a maximum subsidy of 50 per cent, capped at Rs 1 crore per family, of the project cost for farming capsicum, cucumber and tomato, and eight varieties of flowers, including rose, anthurium and orchids.
Choudhary’s project for cucumber cultivation across 16,592 sq m is one of 467 approved by NHB in 2025 under the scheme titled “Development of Commercial Horticulture through Production and Post-Harvest Management of Horticulture Crops”.
According to NHB’s official website, its activities are managed by a Board of Directors headed by the Union Agriculture Minister as ex-officio President, with the Union MoS for Agriculture as ex-officio Vice-President.
Signboard at Union Minister of State Bhagirath Choudhary’s farm at village Peeh in Parbatsar tehsil of Deedwana Kuchaman district in Rajasthan.(Photo credit: Harikishan Sharma)
While the Board’s official website lists its ex-officio Vice-President as “Hon’ble Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare”, the emails provided are bagirath.choudhary@sansad.nic.in/ mosafwoffice@gmail.com.
Other members include the Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare; the Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research; and other officials and representatives of the horticulture industry.
On paper, the MoS has no direct role in approving projects for subsidy under the scheme. The final approval is granted by an NHB project approval committee that does not include the board’s president or vice-president.
The Indian Express sent a questionnaire to Choudhary, detailing its findings, and seeking his response on whether the subsidy constituted a case of conflict of interest. His office confirmed receipt of the email, but Choudhary was unavailable for comment.
Official data shows that of the 467 projects, with a total cost of Rs 144 crore and covering an area of 677 acres, that were approved during the financial year 2025-26 under this scheme, there were 60 that received over Rs 50 lakh each as subsidy.
The Indian Express visited the project site at Choudhary’s farm in Peeh village of Rajasthan’s Deedwana-Kuchaman district. Apart from the subsidy amount, the signboard put up at the site — part of mandatory requirement under the scheme — shows the total cost of the project as “1,99,20,000” (Rs 1.99 crore).
It states that the promoter’s share was “49,80,000” (Rs 49.8 lakh) — and that the Minister took a loan of “1,49,40,000” (Rs 1.49 crore) from HDFC Bank for the project.
Records show that Choudhary, who is the BJP MP from Ajmer and has been MoS at the Agriculture Ministry since 2024, filed an application for clearance to start work on the project under the NHB scheme on April 15, 2025. The project was granted in-principle approval under the scheme 14 days later, on April 29, 2025.
On March 11, 2026, records show, the project received final clearance from NHB. And, on March 30, “capital investment subsidy” of Rs 99.03 lakh was credited to Choudhary’s HDFC Bank loan account at Kishangarh in Rajasthan. The records reviewed by this newspaper on the transfer of subsidy do not mention the remaining Rs 57,000 from the amount of “99,60,000” shown on the signboard.
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