Decision on future of KALIA scheme soon: Odisha Agriculture minister in Assembly

A decision on the future of the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme will be taken soon, said Deputy Chief Minister and Agriculture Minister, Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo in the Assembly on Wednesday.

Replying to a question of BJD MLA Goutam Buddha Das on the fate of the scheme, Singh Deo said, “A high-level discussion is underway over the KALIA scheme and a decision over the future of the yojana will be taken soon.”

In his question, Das asked whether the present BJP government will continue to provide monetary assistance to small and marginal farmers of the State under the scheme or not? If the saffron party has plans to continue with the scheme, then has the government taken any decision to increase the assistance?

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It is worthwhile to mention here that while there are more than 45,67,000 beneficiaries of the KALIA scheme, 29,73,980 farmers are availing benefits of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana in the State.

Meanwhile, in the Assembly, pandemonium continued to hit the proceedings with the Speaker Surama Padhy adjourning the House several times today.

The Speaker adjourned the house till 11.30 am after BJD MLAs staged a walkout alleging 'lack of action' against Odisha Governor's son for allegedly assaulting an ASO. On the other hand, Congress MLAs created a ruckus alleging Odisha being neglected in the Union Budget 2024.

Later, the House was adjourned till 12 pm and an all-party meeting was called by the Speaker to resolve the impasse. However, the House was again adjourned till 4 pm as the all-party meeting yielded no results.