Government decides to restore 100 per cent seed subsidy

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Government has decided to restore to 100 percent the seed and seedling subsidy under Plan schemes for local bodies. Kerala Institute of Local Administration director, Dr P P Balan, told DC that the weekly coordination committee, chaired by LSG Minister M K Muneer, had decided to restore the full subsidy before the announcement of the election schedule. The order would be issued shortly, he said.

DC on Thursday carried an exclusive report on the Local Self-Government Department's controversial order of January 11, cutting back the subsidy from 100 percent to 80 percent.

Predictably the subsidy cut led to anguish and resentment among farmers, councillors and Agriculture Department officials as it reversed, though in part, the Government commitment to bear the full cost of distribution of seeds and seedlings to paddy and vegetable cultivators to make farming remunerative.
However, the Department had received complaints that the scheme was being misused and did not reach genuine beneficiaries.    

This was what led the Department to tinker with the subsidy component and impose a nominal charge on crop materials. However, the first order to reduce the subsidy and subsequently restore it has been done without sufficient transparency. Even top officers were ignorant about it for some time.

Agriculture department officials and leaders of padasekhara samitis were caught unawares by the cutback, done without adequate discussions with the stakeholders. And now the decision, on the eve of the poll schedule announcement, is as controversial as it can be.