Raman Singh among Nyay Yojana beneficiaries: Cong

To counter BJP’s fierce criticism of the Chhattisgarh government’s Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojana, the ruling Congress party released a list of senior state BJP leaders, including former Chief Minister Raman Singh and leader of Opposition Dharamlal Kaushik, claiming that the two were among the beneficiaries of the Rs 5,700 crore scheme launched by the Bhupesh Baghel government on 21 May 21. It further asked the BJP leaders to deposit the received amount in the state’s Chief Minister Relief Fund.

According to the list, Raman Singh got Rs 26,612, his son and Member of Parliament Abhishek Singh got Rs 24,094. Similarly, former minister Nanki Ram Kanwar and Leader of Opposition Dharamlal Kaushik received Rs 16,902 and Rs. 25,029 respectively. Former minister Punnu Lal Mohile received the largest sum of Rs 56,101. It is worth mentioning that in the list, the state government has given money to farmers at a rate of Rs 10,000 per acre, while money has been transferred to the BJP leaders on the basis of paddy sales.

Questions have been raised on different criteria set by the government for farmers and BJP leaders. Interestingly, the state BJP leaders have termed this scheme “Anyaya Yojana”. The party said that the government had promised to give money in one go but now they are giving it in four instalments. Leader of Opposition Dharamlal Kaushik says that the government has not given the money to any leader but to the farmers of the state.

He also said that during the 13 years of the previous Raman Singh government, current CM Bhupesh Baghel too got bonus money but they never released the list. He alleged that the farmers could have got Rs 10,275 as the outstanding amount but the government is paying only Rs 10,000 per acre. In its election manifesto, the Chhattisgarh Congress had promised that if voted to power, they would buy paddy at Rs 2,500 per quintal. However, the Central government didn’t give permission to purchase paddy beyond the support price fixed at Rs 1,815 and Rs 1,835 (per quintal) this year.

So, the Chhattisgarh government formed a cabinet subcommittee and based on its recommendations decided to give the outstanding amount to farmers as incentives under the Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyaya Yojana which was launched on 21 May 2020. According to the plan, it was decided to give Rs 10,000 per acre to 19 lakh farmers in four instalments.

The first instalment has already been transferred to the accounts of the farmers. State Agriculture Minister Ravindra Chaubey says, “The list of beneficiary farmers is in the public domain. All people are farmers.” On questions of differences in calculation, the minister says that he will seek information about it.