West Bengal relaunches Krishak Bandhu scheme doubling farmers' aid to Rs 10,000

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has relaunched Krishak Bandhu scheme, doubling the financial assistance to farmers from Rs. 5000 to Rs 10,000 a year.

During the relaunch of “Krishak Bandhu” scheme CM Mamata Banerjee said the scheme was promised in Trinamool Congress manifesto, which will benefit around 60 lakh farmers across the state. She added that farm labors, share croppers & marginal farmers will also get the double benefit of Rs 4,000 / month.

Within few minutes of launching of the scheme “Krishak Bandhu”, Chief Minister informed that an amount of Rs. 290 lakh has reached to 9,78,531 lakhs of farmers in 22 districts of West Bengal. She congratulated her administration team for facilitating the quick dispersal, and also asked them to send the rest of the amount too. Schemes for the farmers were a flash point between CM Mamata Banerjee and the BJP in recent concluded state assembly elections wherein the BJP attacked her for not allowing the PM Kisan Yojana of Rs 6,000 per year. 

After much back and forth, the scheme was finally implemented in West Bengal, but at the relaunch of “Krishak Bandhu” the Chief Minister of Bengal Mamata Banerjee said the Centre’s scheme has benefited fewer people than the states and there was nothing for share croppers and farm labors. She added that the scheme “Krishak Bandhu” is more inclusive than the Centre’s scheme “PM Kisan Yojana”. 

On 14th May, Mamata Banerjee written an open letter to the farmers in which she criticized the Centre for its dily-dallying on PM Kisan Yojana at a time when it released the first instalment of funds of their scheme to around seven lakh farmers of Bengal. The CM stated the decision to extend the benefits of the scheme to all eligible farmers in Bengal was the result of her government’s constant fight.  

She compared the Center’s scheme with Krishak Bandhu saying that, people who have small patches of farmland are not included in the Central Scheme, but in her project, they have the scheme for every section of the farming community. Moreover, their scheme “Krishak Bandhu” is benefiting over 60 lakh farmers. The government of Bengal had implemented “Krishak Bandhu” in the year 2018 and arount 1,500 crore has been dispersed until February 2021. There is another scheme called death benefit scheme, in which a farmer’s family get a sum of Rs 2 lakh, if he/she dies within the 60 years of age.