Naveen Patnaik said Odisha is the only state in India to provide assistance to landless farmers. (File)Bhubaneswar: On the occasion of the Nuakhai festival, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday disbursed Rs 742.58 crore to 37,12,914 small and marginal farming families under the KALIA (Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation) scheme for Rabi crop. An amount of Rs 2,000 has been deposited in each beneficiary account.”Farmers’ problems are the problems of all of us, it is the problems of the entire state,” Mr Patnaik said.Speaking further, the chief minister said that issues affecting farmers can never be ignored and his government has been in touch with the Centre to resolve the fertiliser shortage.”The issues of MSP and crop insurance are also being brought to the attention of the central government,” he added.Highlighting the low rainfall this year, the Chief Minister said there was less rain in August. He hoped that the situation would improve as rainfall is continuing. The government is monitoring the situation, he said.The Chief Minister said that the KALIA Scheme is the best scheme in the country for the welfare of the farmers and Odisha is the only state in the country to provide assistance to landless farmers.Lakhs of small farmers are benefiting from this scheme, he said.He further asserted that since the start of the COVID pandemic, the state government has provided more than Rs 3,200 crore to the farmers under the scheme.
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