Namo Shetkari Samman: Maharashtra govt to deposit farmers' first instalment from May

The Maharashtra state government has introduced the 'Namo Shetkari Samman’ scheme, which is modelled after the Central government's 'PM Kisan Samman Nidhi' scheme. State Finance Minister Devendra Fadnavis made the announcement during the budget session, stating that six central government and six state government instalments of Rs 12,000 will be deposited annually into the farmers' accounts.

Under the new scheme launched by the Maharashtra state government, farmers in the state will receive a yearly benefit of Rs 6,000 each. The first instalment will be deposited directly into their bank accounts every four months, with the state government's contribution starting from May of this year. The agriculture department has also submitted a plan of action for the scheme to the state government.

The central government provides an annual deposit of Rs 6,000 to farmers who own agricultural land before February 1, 2019. However, around 12 lakh farmers have not received any instalments of this scheme due to issues such as a lack of information about e-KYC, Aadhaar-linked bank accounts, and property details in the names of the beneficiaries.

Henceforth, all these farmers must complete all three phases on paper to avail the benefits of the state government's 'Namo Shetkari Samman scheme. The agriculture department was requested by the state government to submit a proposal for guidelines.

By the end of May, farmers will receive the 14th instalment of the central government's scheme, and the state government will provide the first instalment of their own scheme at the same time. However, a final decision on this matter will be made during the cabinet meeting, and the finance department will need to allocate approximately Rs 5,700 crore annually for the funds to be directly credited to the farmers' accounts. Hence, it is expected that farmers will receive benefits from the state government's scheme starting in May.

The Maharashtra State Government announced a new scheme recently, which is similar to the PM Kisan Yojana. It is estimated to benefit around 96 lakh farmers in the state. The current Shinde-Fadnavis government introduced this scheme.