Chief Minister's Agriculture Mechanisation Programme, Arunachal Pradesh

What is the Chief Minister's Agriculture Mechanisation Programme?

Chief Minister's Agriculture Mechanisation Programme is a state scheme of the Department of Agriculture, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, that puts farm machinery in the hands of farmers at a heavily subsidised price. According to the Arunachal Scheme Handbook published on a Government of Arunachal Pradesh website, the existing Farm Mechanisation Programme, implemented jointly by the Government of India and the state government; was renamed as the Chief Minister's Agriculture Mechanisation Programme, and approved with a raised State share of subsidy against the distribution of farm machinery.

The reasoning behind it is stated plainly in the handbook: more than 70 per cent of the population of Arunachal Pradesh depends directly on agriculture, farm machinery is expensive, and raising government assistance is therefore "a boon in the entire farm operation in the state".

Stated objectives

• Promote mechanisation where farm availability is low.
• Provide hiring services for agricultural machinery, implements and post-harvest technology equipment.
• Expand mechanised activity during cropping seasons over larger areas, especially on small and marginal holdings.
• Introduce improved and newly developed agricultural implements and machines into crop production.
• Move farming from obsolete practices to technology-based operations and raise the area under food and cash crops.

How the scheme is run

• The District Agriculture Development Society (DADS) is authorised to select beneficiaries, applying the norms used for the Chief Minister's Sashakt Kisan Yojana.
• Subsidy is paid only at source to the dealer of the machinery company. No cash reaches the farmer.
• Custom Hiring Centre records must be maintained with the hiring charges collected from each user, authenticated by the District Agriculture Officer.
• All Custom Hiring Centres must be geo-tagged and registered on the monitoring portal of the Government of India's Monitoring and Training division.
• Every Custom Hiring Centre beneficiary contributes Rs 6.00 lakh.

Who is eligible for the machinery subsidy, and who is not eligible?

The following can be selected as beneficiaries:

• Farmers, individually.
• Self-help groups (SHGs).
• Cooperative societies.
• Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs).
• Entrepreneurs identified by the district nodal agency.

The nodal agency at district level has the District Agriculture Officer as Member Secretary, with the District Horticulture Officer, the District Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Officer and the District Fishery Development Officer as members.

Tractor subsidy has a narrower target group. The handbook records that tractor assistance is meant for progressive farmers, registered cooperative agriculture farming societies and unemployed agriculture and allied graduates belonging to the Arunachal Pradesh Scheduled Tribes (APST), across all districts. For small and marginal farmers, lighter machines such as power tillers and water pump sets are distributed on demand.

You are not eligible and cannot apply if:

• You already own, or have ever owned, a tractor or the farm machinery being applied for, in your own name or in the name of a family member. Where a group applies, this condition applies to every member of the group.
• After-sales service and spare parts for the machine are not reasonably available in your area or district, the scheme requires this to be satisfied before implementation.
• You are applying purely as a trader or dealer rather than as a farmer, SHG, cooperative society, FPO or entrepreneur identified by the district nodal agency.

Where the machine is financed as a credit-linked case under the Atma Nirbhar Krishi Yojana route, the umbrella guideline adds two more exclusions: a bank defaulter cannot avail the scheme, and any government servant cannot avail it either.

How much subsidy is given on each machine?

The Arunachal Scheme Handbook publishes a fixed subsidy rate for each machine, and states that the rate is fixed for all price ranges — so a costlier model does not attract a larger subsidy.

Because the subsidy is a fixed amount and not a percentage, the farmer's own outlay is simply the machine price less the figure above, paid directly to the dealer.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Chief Minister's Agriculture Mechanisation Programme

1. Meet your nearest agriculture officer. The handbook names the District Agriculture Officer, the Agriculture Development Officer or the Agriculture Field Assistant as the contact for clarification and further information. Tell them which machine you want and for which crop and land holding.
2. Collect and fill the application form at the district or circle agriculture office, attaching your Aadhaar card, bank account details and registered mobile number, and declare that neither you nor your family owns the machine already.
3. Submit the application to the office and get an acknowledgement. Your name goes forward to the district nodal agency for selection.
4. Wait for selection by the District Agriculture Development Society. DADS selects beneficiaries against the district's annual allocation, applying the Chief Minister's Sashakt Kisan Yojana norms.
5. Collect the machine from the empanelled dealer once selection is communicated. Pay the dealer the price less the notified subsidy; the state pays the subsidy component directly to the dealer at source.
6. If the machine is a Custom Hiring Centre package, deposit your Rs 6.00 lakh contribution, get the centre geo-tagged and registered on the Government of India portal, and maintain the hiring-charge record for authentication by the District Agriculture Officer.

The credit-linked route through Atma Nirbhar Krishi Yojana

Farmers who want a machine larger than the departmental allocation can support have a second, bank-financed route. The Atma Nirbhar Krishi Yojana (ANKY) guideline published by the Department of Agriculture lists "Agricultural Farm Mechanization" as one of the schemes subsumed into ANKY, and carries farm machinery as an eligible activity.

Under that route the funding pattern is:

• Beneficiary contribution: minimum 10 per cent of the project cost, and the guideline says that even where no labour component is involved, as with the purchase of farm machinery or equipment, the contribution is at least 10 per cent of the lowest quoted price.
• Bank finance: maximum 45 per cent.
• Front-ended subsidy from the Government of Arunachal Pradesh: maximum 45 per cent.

For machinery cases, the guideline directs that the bank releases the full amount directly to the vendor or dealer after observing codal formalities, and that procurement is done under the technical supervision of the District Agriculture Officers. Repayment for a tractor with accessories is set at 5 to 7 years and for farm implements at 4 to 5 years, with no moratorium. Collateral is not required for loans up to Rs 1.60 lakh for individuals, or up to Rs 10.00 lakh for SHGs, in line with RBI norms.

Why applications get rejected

• The applicant already owns the machine or has owned one earlier, in his own or a family member's name.
• A group member fails the first-time-buyer test, which disqualifies the whole group application.
• No dealer service network in the district for the machine applied for.
• District allocation exhausted for the year, so the case rolls into the next financial year.
• Aadhaar, bank or mobile details mismatched in the beneficiary record.
• On the credit-linked route, a poor CIBIL record or defaulter status, which the screening committee checks before the file reaches the District Level Implementation Committee.

Where to get help

• District Agriculture Officer, Agriculture Development Officer or Agriculture Field Assistant of your circle, the contact named in the state scheme handbook.
• Director of Agriculture, Government of Arunachal Pradesh to 9862691759, the state-level nodal officer number published in the department's Atma Nirbhar Krishi Yojana guideline.
• Department of Agriculture portal, agri.arunachal.gov.in, which hosts the scheme guidelines and the Atma Nirbhar Yojana application module.

No fee is charged for applying, and no dealer or middleman can charge a farmer to "arrange" selection under the programme.

How to check your application status

The Chief Minister's Agriculture Mechanisation Programme has no online applicant-facing status tracker on agri.arunachal.gov.in. Since selection is done offline by the District Agriculture Development Society (DADS), you have to follow up through the same offline channel you applied through.

For a direct machinery subsidy application (tractor, power tiller, harvester and similar):

1. Contact the Agriculture Field Assistant or Agriculture Development Officer of your circle first, since they hold the working file for applications collected in your area.
2. Ask the District Agriculture Officer's office for the status if the field-level staff cannot confirm it. The DAO's office maintains the beneficiary list cleared by DADS for the year.
3. Check whether the district's annual allocation for your machine category is still open. A common reason for a long wait is not rejection but the district quota for that machine already being exhausted for the financial year, with your case carried forward to the next cycle.
4. Call the state nodal number, 9862691759 (Director of Agriculture, Government of Arunachal Pradesh), if the district office is unresponsive or you need to escalate.
5. Once DADS clears your name, the next confirmation you get is a call or written intimation to collect the machine from the empanelled dealer. There is no SMS or portal notification built into this scheme, so keep visiting or calling the DAO's office at reasonable intervals rather than waiting for a proactive update.

For a credit-linked case financed through the Atma Nirbhar Krishi Yojana (ANKY) route:

1. Track the loan file with the financing bank branch, not the agriculture department, since the bank disburses the amount to the dealer after its own codal formalities.
2. Confirm the front-ended state subsidy has been released to the bank by asking the District Agriculture Officer, who supervises the procurement technically even though the bank handles the money.
3. Keep your loan account number and the DAO's forwarding reference handy when you call either office, since the file moves between two departments and a reference number saves repeat explanations.

There is no fee for checking status, and no dealer, agent or middleman is authorised to charge money for "confirming" or "speeding up" your file with DADS or the bank.