Maharashtra onion growers seek PM-Kisan benefits for farmers excluded by 2019 cut-off
Public Lokpal
July 04, 2026
Maharashtra onion growers seek PM-Kisan benefits for farmers excluded by 2019 cut-off
Nashik : Maharashtra’s onion growers on Saturday urged the Centre and state government to expand the benefits of the PM-Kisan and Namo Shetkari scheme to include eligible farmers who acquired agricultural land through purchase or inheritance after the 2019 cutoff.
Asserting that genuine cultivators bearing full production costs are being unfairly excluded, the Maharashtra State Onion Growers’ Association warned of statewide agitations unless authorities immediately amend eligibility norms and release all pending financial assistance to these farmers.
The association, in a statement, demanded that all eligible farmers who acquired land after 2019 through purchase, inheritance, or family partition be covered under the Central scheme, Prime Minister’s Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) and the state government’s Namo Shetkari Mahasamman Nidhi.
It also sought payment of all pending instalments to eligible beneficiaries, adoption of “actual cultivator” as the primary eligibility criterion, and a special registration and verification drive to identify excluded farmers.
The issue was not confined to Maharashtra but affected lakhs of farming families across the country, it said.
The association said it would formally submit its demands to the Centre, the state government and the concerned departments, and warned of a statewide agitation if corrective action is not taken.
Bharat Dighole, founder president of the association said the eligibility criteria should be revised so that every genuine cultivator receives the benefits of both schemes, and all pending instalments should also be released to eligible farmers.
Jaydeep Bhadane, state core committee member and Nashik District president of the association, said that farmers who are actually cultivating the land bear the entire cost of cultivation, including expenditure on seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, irrigation, electricity, labour, fuel and other farm inputs.
Denying financial assistance to such farmers merely because their names were entered in land records after 2019 is unfair and contrary to the objective of these welfare schemes, he said.
He pointed out that many farmers have legally acquired agricultural land through purchase, inheritance, family partition or other valid legal processes, and although they are actively engaged in farming and contribute significantly to the nation’s food security, they remain ineligible for financial assistance due to technical conditions.
PTI