Farmers who acquired cultivable land after 2019 cutoff should be included in PM-KISAN Yojana: Onion growers’ association

Nashik: Maharashtra onion growers have urged Union and state govts to revise the eligibility criteria of key farmer welfare schemes, including PM-KISAN and the Namo Shetkari Mahasanman Nidhi, so that cultivators who acquired agricultural land after 2019 can also receive benefits.Under the two schemes, eligible farmers receive a combined annual assistance of Rs 12,000. Many cultivators whose names were added to land records after the 2019 cutoff date, however, remain excluded from both benefits despite actively farming their land.Jaydeep Bhadane, Nashik district president of Maharashtra State Onion Growers Farmers Association, said active farmers were facing mounting production costs, including expenses on seeds, fertilisers, irrigation, electricity, labour and fuel.

Denying benefits to farmers solely because their names were recorded on land documents after the prescribed deadline was unfair, he said.“Across the state, many cultivators have legally acquired agricultural land through buy, inheritance, family partition or other valid means. These farmers contribute significantly to food production, yet technical issues leave them ineligible for assistance, creating an unjust disparity between farmers working under similar conditions,” Bhadane said.

He said farmers who inherited land following the death of parents, received it as a family transfer or obtained ownership through legitimate processes should not be denied govt support. The association has also demanded that such farmers receive lump-sum payments of all arrears they missed because of their exclusion from the schemes.State association president Bharat Dighole said the issue extended beyond Maharashtra and affected farmers across the country.

“This is an apolitical demand aimed at ensuring socio-economic justice for active cultivators. The primary eligibility criterion should be whether a person is an active farmer, rather than the date on which their name was entered in land records,” he said.Dighole urged govt to launch a special registration and verification drive within a fixed timeframe to identify eligible farmers and amend existing guidelines to address gaps in the current system. “Updating the eligibility norms will help ensure that genuine cultivators are not deprived of benefits due to technical or procedural reasons,” he added.