NEW DELHI: Extending the assured income support (PM-Kisan) scheme for farmers, approved by the new government in its first Cabinet meeting last Friday, will also benefit over eight lakh big landholders — having landholding size of 10 hectares (nearly 25 acres) and more — across the country. 

Though such big landholders account for merely 0.6% of total farmers in India, their numbers in some states, such as Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Haryana and Gujarat, are high. 

Analysis of state-wise figures on landholders shows that 5.3% of total farmers in Punjab are large ones. Similarly, 4.7% of total farmers in Rajasthan and 2.5% in Haryana are big in terms of their landholdings. In other states, however, less than 1% of total number of farmers is big landholders due to fragmentation of land over the years. 

 

Large landholdings in Rajasthan may not be compared with similar size of land in Punjab and Haryana in value terms (productivity) if one takes irrigation facilities and soil fertility into account, but the number of large farmers in the arid state presents an interesting picture. Rajasthan alone has 43% (3.6 lakh) out of the 8.3 lakh big farmers in India. 

The top 12 states, including Rajasthan, collectively account for 93% of total big farmers in the country. On the other hand, there are 13 states/UTs, including Goa, Sikkim and Delhi, where number of large farmers is negligible. Other than UTs, most of such states are from the north-east. Though Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh have big landholdings, they are mostly community land. 

 

Among remaining states, Telangana has 9,000 large farmers followed by Assam and Odisha (4,000 each), Bihar and Himachal Pradesh (3,000 each), Kerala (2,000), and Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Jammu & Kashmir (1,000 each). 

The figures are part of the Agriculture Census 2015-16 which is being used as base data to implement the PM-Kisan scheme, launched in February. 

The scheme was extended on Friday by removing the ceiling of two hectares, making all 14.5 crore farmers eligible for benefit under the PM-Kisan. Under the scheme, each of the landholding farmer is eligible to get Rs 6,000 per annum in three equal instalments as assured support from the Central government. Landless farmers and sharecroppers do not qualify for the benefit under the scheme. 

The extended scheme will benefit nearly 2 crore additional farmers, including over eight lakh big ones, subject to existing “exclusions”. The operational guidelines of the scheme excludes those landholder farmer families from the list of beneficiaries whose one or more members are either former or present MPs, MLAs, mayors, chairpersons of district panchayats or holders of any constitutional posts. 

Similarly, even those farmer families will not be eligible for benefits whose one or more members are working or retired government servants (excluding Class IV or Group D employees) or pensioners whose monthly pension is Rs 10,000 or more or income tax payees in last assessment year or professionals like practising doctors, engineers, lawyers, chartered accountants and architects. 

Over 3 crore marginal and small landholding farmers (having land holding size of up to two hectares) received their first instalment of Rs 2,000 each till May 31, while nearly 2 crore of them have even got their second instalment. 

“The model code of conduct had slowed down the process a bit as during the election period we could process only those beneficiaries whose verified list was sent to us by states by March 10. We will now speed up the process by incorporating all farmers, irrespective of their categories, as per the latest cabinet decision,” said an official in agriculture ministry. 

Source: ET