Krishak Bondhu Scheme, West Bengal

West Bengal government relaunched its Krishak Bandhu scheme with doubled benefits on June 17, 2021. The relaunch was undertaken by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, thereby keeping the pre-election promise made by her party. Under this scheme, financial assistance to farmers will be doubled from this year. The farmers holding 1 acre or more land were provided with a yearly financial assistance of Rs. 5,000 per acre which is now doubled to Rs. 10,000 per acre and the farmers holding less than 1 acre land were provided with a yearly financial assistance of Rs. 2,000 per acre which is now doubled to Rs. 4,000 per acre. Krishak Bandhu scheme is a welfare scheme for farmers, share croppers and their families, started by West Bengal government in 2019. This scheme provides financial assistance as well as social security to the farmers, share croppers and their families across the state.

Scheme Overview:

Scheme Objectives and Benefits:

• The main objective of this renewed scheme is to provide a financial assistance of Rs. 10,000 per acre in case of land holding of 1 acre or more and Rs. 4,000 per acre in case of land holding of less than 1 acre to the farmers
• This scheme will assist the family of the farmer in case of his death
• It tends to provide financial assistance of Rs. 2 lakhs in case of unprecedented events like death of the farmer
• All the farmers from 18-60 years across the state will be covered under this scheme
• About 68.38 lakh farmers will be benefited under this scheme
• This scheme will provide financial as well as social security to the farmer and his family

Key Points:

• Krishak Bandhu Scheme is launched by West Bengal government for assisting the farmers and their families across the state
• On June 17, 2021 CM Mamata Banerjee relaunched the scheme for benefiting the farmers as promised in the pre-election rallies
• This relaunch was announced in the state cabinet meeting headed by the CM on June 10, 2021
• Under the renewed scheme, the assistance provided to the farmers under this scheme will now be doubled from this year
• Annual financial assistance of Rs. 10,000 per acre will be provided to the farmers instead of Rs. 5,000 to the farmer in case of land holding of 1 acre of more
• And annual financial assistance of Rs. 4,000 per acre will be provided to the farmers instead of Rs. 2,000 in case of land holding of less than 1 acre
• This annual assistance will be usually provided in 2 installments as one in kharif and one in rabi season for the same crop
• No premium is required to be paid by the farmers in the state
• Death benefit of Rs. 2 lakhs will be provided to the farmers family in case of death of the farmer
• Amount of assistance will be transferred to the bank account linked within 15 days of the claim
• This scheme tends to cover all the farmers in the state in the age group of 18-60 years
• Farmer or the family member can apply for benefit through the official website @krishakbandhu.net

• Application form for death benefit can also be downloaded from the portal and the same must be submitted at the Tehsil office within 30 days of the incident
• About Rs. 1,500 crores have been disbursed to the farmers under this scheme till February’21
• This scheme will benefit about 68.38 lakh farmers, share croppers this year
• Marking the relaunch of this scheme, state government released Rs. 290 crores thereby benefiting 9.78 lakh farmers across the state
• This scheme will provide financial assistance as well as social security to the famers and their family members