‘RGKNY’ is milestone for devp of farmers : CM

Central Chronicle News
Raipur, Jun 13: In the 18th episode of monthly programme ‘Lokvaani’ aired from Akashwani, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel began his address with ‘Jai Johar’ and said that Chhattisgarh is a state of farmers, agriculture and farming. We believe that a state can become prosperous only when the farmers are prosperous. With this long-sighted vision of development, we launched ‘Rajiv Gandhi Kisaan Nyay Yojana’ (RGKNY) on May 21, 2020. This scheme clearly reflects state government’s pro-farmer vision. This scheme would improve the income of farmers and empower them financially. He said this scheme would prove to be milestone for development of farmers in Chhattisgarh.
Chief Minister Baghel said that the state launched RGKNY on May 21, 2020, and within a year we have transferred Rs 5628 cr in the bank accounts of 18.45 lakh farmers in four installments. Those who were objecting to the transfer of amount in first four installments, in view of COVID crisis, those people started saying that the farmers selling paddy in Kharif 2021 will not be given the benefit of RGKNY. COVID crisis has undoubtedly affected the economic condition of the country and the state. Baghel said that he had said that the government will not let the farmers bear the loss due to COVID crisis.
CM Baghel said that as a result of State Government’s farmer-friendly decision, people have begun to invest more in the agriculture sector in the state. The number of farmers in Chhattisgarh has increased by 5.50 lakh in the last two years. In many states, people are giving up agriculture to pursue other occupations, whereas in Chhattisgarh the number of farmers are continuously increasing. This means that our efforts are reaching at the doorsteps of farmers. Number of registered farmers in the state has increased from 15 lakh in year 2017-18 to 21.52 lakh in year 2020-21, and the percentage of farmers selling paddy on support price has increased from 76.47 to 95.38 per cent.
Chief Minister Baghel said that RGKNY has been expanded with some new provisions in the larger interest of farmers. There are mainly three provisions for the amount of input assistance under ‘Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojana’. The first provision is that the farmers taking maize, kodo, kutki, soybean, tur, sugarcane crops along with paddy (like last year) will be provided an input assistance of Rs. 9000 per acre every year. Second provision is for those farmers who want to take other prescribed crops instead of paddy. They will be given grant-in-aid at the rate of Rs 10,000 per acre. Similarly, the third provision will be given to those farmers who plant trees instead of paddy, as they will also be provided aid of Rs 10000 per acre for three years.
Every possible measure is being taken to prevent COVID infection
In today’s episode of Lokvaani, Chief Minister Baghel had a discussion with people of the state about the measures and precautions being taken to control and prevent the spread of COVID infection in the state. Baghel told that the second wave of corona had come with the new variants of the virus, which multiplied rapidly. In April, the infection rate had reached 30 percent. Within a month, we succeeded in bringing down the infection rate down from 27% to 2%. We made a transparent system with the help of health department, district administration, private hospital operators, doctors in hospitals, health workers and aware public.