About 80 per cent of farmers in Maharashtra are eligible for the ₹6,000 a year relief under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sanman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) announced in the interim budget.

Out of the 1.5 crore farmers in the State, about 1.2 crore fall under the small and marginal group and are eligible for the relief. The State government will receive ₹7,200 crore from the Centre in the coming calendar year.

These details emerged out of a review of PM-KISAN programme during the weekly Cabinet meeting. State Agriculture Minister Chandrakant Patil apprised the Cabinet of the programme, a senior government official said.

PM-KISAN is an assured income programme for small and marginal farmers, whose landholding is less than two hectares. PM-KISAN is fully sponsored by the Centre and it will entail an annual expenditure of ₹75,000 crore.

The official said a committee headed by the State Chief Secretary had already started the process of identifying the beneficiaries. A large number of people who have less than two hectares of land but are government servants, pensioners having more ₹10,000 pension per year, serving and former MLAs, doctors and those who have paid income tax in the last fiscal are not eligible for the relief.

Based on the 2015-16 agriculture census data, Konkan region has 84.50 per cent small and marginal farmers. In Nashik, the number is 78 per cent; Pune 84 per cent; Aurangabad 79.50 per cent; Amravati 73 per cent; and Nagpur 76 per cent regions, the numbers are 79.50, 73 and 76 per cent, respectively.

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