Keonjhar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday announced KALIA Scholarship programme for the children of farmers who will pursue education in Government professional institutions.
“KALIA has become extremely popular and now adopted in the entire country. To promote meritorious students from farming households, I announce KALIA Scholarship. Under the initiative, State Government will support higher education expenses of students in Government professional colleges,” said Patnaik.
Patnaik was addressing a mega farmers’ convention in Keonjhar district.
Patnaik also laid foundation stones for various development projects worth Rs 2,100 crore and inaugurated projects worth Rs 66 crore. On the occasion he too approved drinking water supply projects worth Rs 1,050 crore.
On January 25, Patnaik, who refused to go for farm loan waiver in the State, introduced the KALIA scheme for farmers initially. The scheme will cover 92 per cent of the cultivators, loanee as well as non-loanee farmers, sharecroppers (actual cultivators) and landless agricultural labourers.
Under the scheme the small and marginal farmers will get Rs 10,000 per annum as financial assistance for input cost for cultivation (Rs 5,000 for Kharif crop and another Rs 5,000 for Rabi crop), the landless farmers would get Rs 12,500 for agricultural allied activities such as goat farming, poultry farming, duckery, beekeeping, mushroom cultivation and so on.
Similarly, the scheme has also the provision of providing financial assistance of Rs 10,000 per family per year to enable the vulnerable cultivators or landless agricultural labourers to take care of their sustenance.