Chhattisgarh launches Rs 10000/Acre direct cash scheme for Farmers

A new scheme for direct transfer of cash to farmers was launched in Chhattisgarh today.

• Each farmer household will receive Rs 10000 per acre in direct cash.
• Given a coverage of 19 lakh farmers, it is likely that bulk of the farmers may own 2 acres or lesser area of land
• This is over and above Rs 6000 each household will receive from the Central Government

This could end up being higher than the cash payouts (Rs 5000 per acre per season per farmer) by Telangana Government which started this in the first place. This may end up being higher than the one announced by the Jagan Government in Andhra (Rs 13500 per annum)

Can the Chhattisgarh Government afford it?

Overall revenue growth until February 2020 was just 0.5%, an average performance. With COVID coming into play, it is likely to have gotten worse. However due to the new Finance commission devolution, Chhattisgarh will get a larger share of Central allocations this year. Further, the state has also cut expenditure on water supply, sanitation, housing etc to fund this new program. All of this will work only if the economy recovers this year, else, it will find it difficult to fund this programme without damaging other services