india

Updated: Dec 31, 2018 22:50 IST

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik announced welfare schemes for the farmers of their respective state’s against the backdrop of this year’s Lok Sabha elections.

With effect from January 1, West Bengal would provide a life insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh for the state’s farmers and workers aged 18-60 years, Banerjee said. She added that the state’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) government would also provide a yearly aid of Rs 5,000 per acre for all peasant families in the state.

“The lives of farmers are dogged by uncertainty at every step,” the CM said, pointing out that there are 7.2 million farmers and agricultural labourers in the state. Forms for the scheme will be made available in February with retroactive effect, she said and added that the government may spend Rs 7,000-8,000 crores on the schemes.

Farmers in Odisha also received a good news on the New Year’s eve when chief minister Patnaik announced details of his Krushak Assistant for Livelihood and Augmentation (KALIA), a Rs 10,100 crores a Rs 101 billion livelihood support and insurance scheme for over 6 million farmer families of Odisha that will commence on February 15.

Under the initiative, the Farmers will get Rs10,000 a year for purchasing seeds, fertilizer and insecticides, life and accident insurance for a small premium and an interest-free crop loan of Rs 50,000, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief announced.

He added that the government would also provide financial assistance of Rs 12,500 to landless agricultural households for small allied activities like goat rearing and bee-keeping.

Odisha is slated to hold assembly elections later in the year.