West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee on 31st December 2018 announced new two schemes for farmers and farm labourers in the state. The move comes ahead of the Lok Sabha elections scheduled to be held in 2019.
Starting from January 2019, every farmer in West Bengal will get Rs 5,000/acre each year in 2 installments from the Agriculture Department. Additionally, the Krisak Bandhu scheme will give Rs 2 lakh to the family of farmers who die due to any reason including suicide.
Chief Minister Banerjee said, "We have around 72 lakh farmers and farm labourers so we are launching a new policy to grant Rs 2 lakh/farmer kin in case of a death of a farmer”.
Asserting that the West Bengal government is introducing the two new schemes despite severe financial burden, the CM said the government has already waived tax on agricultural land.
Previously, she had blamed the BJP-led Central government of making false claims of providing crop insurance to farmers in the state. She also claimed that the state has paid 80% of the insurance payout.
At a rally in South 24 Parganas district on 26th December the Chief Minister said, "The Centre is making fake claim about paying the whole crop insurance amount to the farmers. The Centre pays 20% of the total crop insurance amount while the rest 80% is paid by the state”.
With farmers and rural India expected to be the key election campaign in 2019, All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) is hoping that the string of offerings appeals to the 72 lakh farmers in the agrarian state.
