Bengal’s cash-less agrarian revolution: To pay support price for rice directly into bank a/c
KOLKATA: The West Bengal government has decided to pay its rice farmers by directly transferring the amount to their bank accounts. The government, which is initiating such a move for the first time, hopes to start the process in all 330 blocks of the state from December 10.
The state has earmarked Rs 8,000 crore to purchase 52 lakh metric tonnes of rice this year. “We will pay farmers Rs 1,490 for a quintal of rice. We will hold at least 70 camps to purchase rice in each of the 294 assembly constituencies,” Bengal Food and Civil Supplies Minister Jyotipriya Mallick said.
“Instead of giving cheques, we have decided to transfer the money directly to their bank accounts. This will help them get their price faster,” he told ET on Tuesday.
To ensure this, the government will collect details such as bank account numbers and IFSC codes from farmers while purchasing rice from them at several purchase counters across the state, the minister said.
West Bengal has seen record cultivation of 1.75 crore metric tonnes of rice this year. “We have decided to sell 6 lakh metric tonnes of rice to Jharkhand,” the minister said.
Source: ECONOMIC TIMES