Yogi to woo farmers with largesse modelled on PM Kisan

Lucknow

Ahead of the crucial 2022 Uttar Pradesh (UP) Assembly elections, the Yogi Adityanath government is likely to announce farm largesse modelled on the PM Kisan scheme, which provides small and marginal farmers each an ex gratia annual payout of Rs 6,000.

The UP scheme, which would be in addition to the central government financial assistance, is expected to keep the farmers in good humour in the backdrop of the recent farm stir in western UP districts over the farm laws, which have now been annulled by Parliament.

According to sources, the scheme will be placed before the state cabinet this week for approval. Since the winter session of the UP legislature has now started, the chief minister is expected to announce the scheme in his house address on December 16 when his government tables the supplementary budget for the current 2021-22 financial year.

Although the broad contours of the UP farm dole are being finalized, the pay-out could range from Rs 3,600 to Rs 6,000 to the small and medium farmers.

Of an estimated 24 million farm households in UP, more than 21.5 million or 90 per cent belong to the small and marginal farmers’ category having fragmented landholdings and subsisting on low farm income. Interestingly, UP has also been the top beneficiary of PM Kisan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana in 2018 in the run-up to the high-stake 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The flagship programme had turned the tide in favour of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and saw the return of the Modi government with a brute majority.

The Yogi government is looking to recreate the magic of PM Kisan at the hustings when the state goes to the polls in the early months of 2022.