1.72 lakh farmers apply under PM kisan yojana

Lalit Mohan
Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, July 12

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About 1.72 lakh farmers from Kangra have applied under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Siddhi Yojana. Sources said the number of farmers who have applied under the scheme was still growing.

Since more and more farmers from the district are applying under the scheme, the authorities concerned are not being able to finalise the total number of beneficiaries.

The sources added till the list of beneficiaries is finalised, the farmers will not be able to get the benefits. Under the scheme, all farmers would be entitled for a financial grant of Rs 6,000 per acre per annum. Narinder Dhiman, Additional Director, Agriculture, Kangra, said of the total 2.48 lakh farmers in Kangra district, 1.72 lakh have applied till date. 

However, the list will not be sent to the Union government till it is finalised. The secretary agriculture recently took a meeting for district officials directing them to complete the data regarding farmers at the earliest.

In Himachal, thousands of families are waiting for the division for their ancestral lands. RM Sharma, a farmer from Kanol village in Dadasiba area of Kangra district, while talking to The Tribune said he had been waiting for the division of his ancestral land for the past 10 years.

In such cases, if the family definition laid by the Union government scheme was taken into consideration, the head of family was entitled to financial benefits. 

Officials of the Revenue Department were issuing farmer certificates to adult family members whose names figure in revenue papers. The sources said many families are applying for settlement of their lands so that most members of their families could avail the benefit under the scheme.

Officials said some of claims might not hold valid as per norms of the scheme.

In Kangra, more than 2 lakh hectares was under agriculture. Rest of the land is rainfed. In many areas, farmers have given up farming due to wild and stray animals.

The Joint Director, Agriculture, said anybody who owns an agriculture land was a farmer and it does not matter if he does farming or not. 

Farmers will have to wait to avail benefits

• Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Siddhi Yojana, all farmers will be entitled for a financial grant of Rs 6,000 per acre per annum 
• Narinder Dhiman, Additional Director, Agriculture, Kangra, said of the total 2.48 lakh farmers in Kangra district, 1.72 lakh have applied till date 
• Also, farmers will not be able to avail the benefits till the list of beneficiaries is finalised