Direct income transfer (DIT) has scope of becoming the new face of Indian agri-support policy schemes. Analyse with examples. (200 Words )
Refer: The Financial Express
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 5 years
KEY POINTS
Direct Income transers help farmers to sustain their crops and pay loans in approproate time.
Ryth Bandhu Scheme, Telangana
· In order to ensure that the farmers do not fall again in to the debt trap, a new scheme called “Agriculture Investment Support Scheme” (“Rythu Bandhu”) is to be implemented from the year 2018-19.
· Investment Support Agriculture and Horticulture crops by way of grant of Rs. 4,000/- per acre per farmer each season for purchase of inputs like Seeds, Fertilizers, Pesticides, Labour and other investments in the field operations of Farmer’s choice for the crop season.
Analysis
· Exclusion of sharecroppers and the landless was one of the biggest problems with RBS.
· By making payments on a per acre basis, RBS is criticised for being regressive, i.e. as landholding size grew, so did the payment.
· As per NSSO and NAFIS data on farmer incomes, as landholding sizes shrink, an increasing share of incomes come from livestock. Payments under RBS are meant only for farmers growing crops.
KALIA scheme of Odisha
· The defects of Ryth Bandhu scheme is solved in case of KALIA scheme
· Under KALIA, this problem is resolved as it has three components which cover landowners, sharecroppers, landless labourers.
· KALIA is progressive as it makes a standard payment to all on just the condition that the individual is identified as a beneficiary. Besides, KALIA is only designed to deliver to small and marginal farmers, all others are outside the ambit of the scheme.
· KALIA has announced support to its landless for livestock and allied activities with an amount of Rs 12,500/year.
Analysis
· Both the schemes tend to lack outreach to small and marginal farmers.
· Upon comparing targetted number of scheme beneficiaries with actual state agri-workforce (sum of cultivators and agri-labourers (main plus marginal) from Census 2011), actual coverage was found to be lower than what is suggested.
· Strengthening backward ad forward linkages are not given enough focus in the schemes.
· Nevertheless, as both schemes are a work-in-progress, reach is likely to improve overtime. There is no dispute, however, that both are good examples to be studied if a national DIT is on the cards.
Key takeaways from the schemes
· The first amongst them is the fact that creating a robust list of beneficiaries is most crucial. A list that excludes the better-off and includes all those vulnerable associated with agriculture is the foundation of a successful DIT.
· A 100% financial inclusion is indisputably a necessary condition in this case. Other databases like ones from the Census and farmer schemes can also be synergised for the purpose.
· Finding funds to finance this DIT while balancing the fiscal deficit is crucial.
Sandeep 5 years
kindly review mine
IAS Parliament 5 years
Try analysing schemes of Telanganaa and Odisha and provide a conclusion on if it will work at National level or not. Keep Writing.
Nandadeep 5 years
Please review.thanks
IAS Parliament 5 years
Good answer. Keep Writing.
