Assistance for Power Driven Chaff Cutter Scheme

What is the Assistance for Power Driven Chaff Cutter Scheme?

Assistance for Power Driven Chaff Cutter Scheme is a capital subsidy scheme run by the Directorate of Animal Husbandry under the Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Co-operation Department, Government of Gujarat. The scheme helps a cattle keeper buy a power driven chaff cutter. The electric machine that chops green and dry fodder into short lengths before it goes into the manger.

Assistance for Power Driven Chaff Cutter Scheme pays up to 75 per cent of the purchase cost, subject to a ceiling of Rs 18,000, whichever of the two is lower. The grant is deposited into the beneficiary's own bank account by Direct Benefit Transfer after the machine is bought and physically verified. A beneficiary can claim the assistance once every 5 years.

The scheme addresses one measurable problem: fodder wastage. When whole stalks of jowar, bajra, maize or sugarcane tops are dropped into a manger, cattle pick out the soft leaf and trample the stem, and the department's own rationale for the scheme puts the resulting loss at roughly 25 to 30 per cent of the fodder fed. Chopping the fodder into short lengths removes the animal's ability to be selective, so a herd eats what it is given. For a smallholder buying fodder in the dry season, that is a direct cash saving, and for the state it means more milk from the same fodder base.

Main features

• Capital subsidy on one power driven chaff cutter per eligible beneficiary.
• Ceiling of Rs 18,000 or 75 per cent of cost, whichever is less.
• Available to General, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe cattle keepers, through separate components with separate budget lines.
• Once in 5 years per beneficiary.
• Paid by Direct Benefit Transfer after purchase, never as an advance.
• Applied for only on the iKhedut portal, ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in.
• Physical verification of the installed machine before the grant is released.

Who is eligible for the chaff cutter subsidy?

A cattle keeper can apply if all of the following are true:

• The applicant is a permanent resident of Gujarat.
• The applicant is engaged in dairy farming or animal rearing and owns animals that can be evidenced through a cattle census entry, a panchayat certificate or a dairy co-operative membership record. Category-specific components of this scheme set a minimum herd size. The General category component under the Integrated Fodder Development Scheme requires a minimum of 5 animals, so check the herd condition shown against the component you are applying under.
• The applicant belongs to the General, Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe category and applies under the matching component.
• The applicant holds an Aadhaar number and a bank account in the same name that can receive Direct Benefit Transfer.
• The applicant has not claimed a chaff cutter subsidy in the last 5 years.

Who cannot apply or is not eligible

• Residents of other states cannot apply, even where animals are grazed in Gujarat seasonally.
• A person who does not keep animals cannot apply. The scheme is a fodder efficiency measure, not a general machinery subsidy, and an applicant with no verifiable herd will fail at the animal ownership check.
• Anyone who has already drawn a chaff cutter subsidy within the last 5 years is not eligible for a second machine.
• An applicant who files under the wrong category component, for example a Scheduled Tribe cattle keeper applying under the General component instead of the Tribal Area Sub Plan, will be rejected. The benefit is not lost, but an application window is.
• Applications made outside an announced iKhedut window are not eligible, because the component does not even appear on the portal menu when the window is shut.
• A machine bought before sanction is generally not eligible for reimbursement, since the department cannot link the invoice to an approved application.

How much benefit does the scheme provide?

The subsidy is the lower of the two figures. A machine costing Rs 24,000 attracts the full Rs 18,000 ceiling, because 75 per cent of Rs 24,000 is exactly Rs 18,000. A machine costing Rs 20,000 attracts Rs 15,000, because 75 per cent is the binding figure. Buying a more expensive machine does not increase the grant beyond Rs 18,000, the extra cost is entirely the buyer's.

Payment is a single one-time transfer. There is no instalment schedule, no annual renewal, and no maintenance component.

What documents are required?

A dairy co-operative membership card showing regular milk pouring is usually the easiest animal ownership proof to obtain and the most persuasive one at verification, because it demonstrates an ongoing dairy operation rather than a one-time head count.

How to apply for the chaff cutter subsidy on iKhedut

1. Open the official portal at ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in, go to Schemes and choose Animal Husbandry Schemes.
2. Check whether the Power Driven Chaff Cutter component for your category — General, Scheduled Castes Sub Plan or Tribal Area Sub Plan: shows as open. A closed component accepts nothing and you must wait for the next announced window.
3. Click Apply, then state whether you are a registered applicant. A first-time user chooses "not registered" and completes a fresh registration with an Aadhaar number and a mobile number for OTP verification.
4. Fill the application form with your personal details, village, taluka and district, category, number and type of animals owned, and bank account number with IFSC.
5. Submit the application and note the application number displayed on screen.
6. Confirm the application. iKhedut treats submission and confirmation as two separate actions, and an unconfirmed application is never forwarded to the taluka office. This is the single most common technical failure on the portal.
7. Print the confirmed application, sign it, attach self-attested copies of the Aadhaar card, ration card, bank passbook, animal ownership proof and caste certificate where applicable, and submit the set to your taluka or district animal husbandry office within the days stated on the printout.
8. Wait for the sanction order, then buy the chaff cutter from an approved supplier and submit the invoice so the machine can be physically verified and the grant released.

How to apply offline or with assistance

1. Visit a Village Computer Entrepreneur (VCE) at the Gram Panchayat, a Common Service Centre, or a cyber cafe if you cannot use the portal yourself. iKhedut has no paper-first route: every application is entered online by someone.
2. Have the operator complete the form in your presence and collect the printout carrying the application number before leaving the centre.
3. Submit the signed printout with the documents at the taluka animal husbandry office or the district panchayat's animal husbandry branch, and take a stamped receiving acknowledgement.

How do I check my application status?

1. Open ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in and select the application status option from the main menu or the Applicant Corner.
2. Enter your application number with the registered mobile number or Aadhaar number as prompted.
3. Read the status, submitted, confirmed, pending at taluka, approved, or rejected with a reason.

An application that stays at "submitted" rather than "confirmed" was never finalised. It will not progress, and the only fix is to apply again in the next open window.

Why do chaff cutter applications get rejected?

• Application not confirmed after online submission.
• Wrong category component chosen, typically an SC or ST applicant filing under the General component or the reverse.
• Animal ownership not established, or a herd smaller than the minimum the chosen component requires.
• Hard copy not submitted to the taluka office within the days allowed after online submission.
• Bank details mismatched. A passbook name different from the Aadhaar name, or an incorrect IFSC, which stops the transfer even after sanction.
• Machine bought before sanction, so the invoice cannot be tied to an approved application.
• Repeat claim within 5 years of an earlier chaff cutter subsidy.
• Component budget exhausted for the financial year, which produces a rejection unrelated to the applicant's merits. Reapply in the next window.

Key dates and the application window

Assistance for Power Driven Chaff Cutter Scheme is not open continuously. The Directorate of Animal Husbandry opens the component on iKhedut once the annual allocation is released and closes it when the district target is filled, so a window can open and shut inside a few weeks. There is no late submission facility. Watch the news and circulars section of ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in, and have your ration card, animal ownership proof and bank passbook ready before the window opens rather than after.

Where do I raise a grievance?

• Taluka animal husbandry office or the district panchayat animal husbandry branch, the first stop, because the physical file sits there.
• Deputy Director of Animal Husbandry at district level, for escalations against the taluka office.
• Directorate of Animal Husbandry, Gujarat, at doah.gujarat.gov.in, for state-level escalation on the scheme itself.
• iKhedut helpdesk and public contacts page for technical faults such as a form that will not confirm or an OTP that does not arrive, and for the correct officer in your district.

Applying on iKhedut is free. No agent can guarantee approval of a chaff cutter subsidy, no officer is entitled to a payment for processing the file, and nobody from the department will ask you for your bank OTP.