OdishaPlus Bureau

kalia

What was the secret behind Naveen Patnaik romping home the massive victory in 2019 elections? As it is apparent by now,  two flagship programmes of the Naveen government actually helped the BJD register such a gigantic win. None other than the Chief Minister has realized this truth. The two key schemes are KALIA (Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation) and MISSION SHAKTI which is  aimed at  strengthening  the women self-help groups.

Kalia Yojona

KALIA

KALIA broadly has these components: Financial assistance to the farmers; livelihood assistance to landless families; support to landless laborers and vulnerable agriculture households; insurance cover and Interest-free crop loan.

Even on the day of swearing-in, Naveen declared that 6 to 7 lakh farmers under the KALIA scheme will receive the financial assistance of Rs 5000 through Direct Benefit Transfer immediately.

 

farmer

Distress

In the initial days of 2019, the rising farm distress had propelled many chief ministers to look for alternatives in order  to provide relief to farmers. Some announced loan waivers and some began implementing major schemes. But Naveen showed the country a new line of attack for farmer distress under the ‘KALIA’ scheme.

Agreed, the scheme was launched keeping in view the assembly elections. But the reach of the scheme is simply astounding. Just after the launch, 42 lakh farmers of Odisha got the first installment under the KALIA scheme.As the model conduct of conduct came into force, many beneficiaries were left out. Those are the ones who have begun receiving the assistance now.

Even at the height of campaigning, Naveen had declared that KALIA won’t be stopped ever and the beneficiaries will continue to enjoy the benefits. On the face of it, it is KALIA which helped the Biju Janata Dal in the elections because of   its popularity and instantaneous cash delivery.

Such is the success of this scheme that it is proposed to be  extended to 75 lakh farming families in the next few months.According to plans, KALIA will ultimately benefit about 92% of the farmers in the state and the government has earmarked Rs 10,180 crore for this in the next three years.Undoubtedly,KALIA is the most successful programme of the Naveen Patnaik government in the last twenty years .It is  Kalia which bucked the national trend and kept at bay the 2019 Modi wave.

SHG Group

SHG

The other scheme which helped Naveen returning to power is the MISSION SHAKTI. Just before the elections the Naveen government had extended financial assistance to women self-help groups. Figures would speak for themselves. There are about 8 lakh SHG groups in Odisha and the participation of women is ten times the number.As it turns out, it was the women voters who voted for Naveen’s party in large numbers. There couldn’t have been a better win than this for any political party when one and half a crore women voters show their inclination to vote.

 

pramila bisoi

There couldn’t have been a better win than this for any political party when one and half a crore women voters show their inclination to vote.

Reservation

The third factor which lent a hand  to Naveen Patnaik to  come back to power is its thirty-three per cent women  reservation policy.Naveen’s avowal to bring the women folk to the mainstream and give them equal opportunity actually favored Naveen to become Chief Minister for the  fifth-time. In fact,when he nominated for Lok Sabha many eye brows were raised and Naveen  was trolled for his choice .But it was this decision which enthused the women voters across the state. For the record, the class -II read Bisoyi won the Aska Lok Sabha seat by a whopping two lakh votes.  Odisha has also become the first state to send so many women to the new Lok Sabha.

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