Assistance for Power Driven Chaff Cutter Scheme under Scheduled Castes Sub Plan (SC Category)

What is the Power Driven Chaff Cutter Scheme under the Scheduled Castes Sub Plan?

Assistance for Power Driven Chaff Cutter Scheme under the Scheduled Castes Sub Plan is a livestock input subsidy of the Directorate of Animal Husbandry, under the Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Co-operation Department, Government of Gujarat. The scheme gives Scheduled Caste livestock-keeping households a subsidy towards buying an electric or motor-driven chaff cutter, the machine Gujarati dairy households call a kadba kutti.

The subsidy is 75% of the purchase cost or Rs 18,000, whichever is lower, paid into the bank account of the beneficiary. Because the funding comes from the Scheduled Castes Sub Plan (SCSP) — the earmarked share of the state budget that must be spent on Scheduled Caste households. The benefit is restricted to that category and cannot be extended to a general or OBC applicant, who has parallel components under other budget heads.

Why the machine matters. Fodder is the largest recurring cost in small dairy farming, and hand-fed long fodder is heavily wasted: cattle pick the soft leaf and leave the stalk. A chaff cutter chops green and dry fodder into short, uniform pieces so that almost all of it is eaten, which lifts dry matter intake and cuts the household's fodder bill. It also removes hours of manual cutting each day, work that in most households falls on women. For a household with five or more animals, the machine changes the economics of milk production rather than merely making a chore easier.

Key features

• Subsidy of 75% of cost, capped at Rs 18,000.
• Restricted to the Scheduled Caste category under the SCSP budget line.
• Requires ownership of at least five animals.
• Applied for online on i-Khedut, Gujarat's single farmer scheme portal.
• Approval comes before purchase; the bill is submitted afterwards.
• Paid by direct credit to the beneficiary's bank account.

Who is eligible for the chaff cutter subsidy?

You can claim the subsidy if:

• You are a permanent resident of Gujarat.
• You belong to the Scheduled Caste category and hold a caste certificate from the competent authority.
• You own at least five animals. Cattle and buffalo kept for milk are the intended holding.
• You hold an active bank account that can receive a direct credit.
• You are prepared to buy the machine from a government-approved vendor after approval.

You are not eligible, and cannot apply, if:

• You do not belong to the Scheduled Caste category. This particular component is financed from the Scheduled Castes Sub Plan. Farmers in other categories should look for the corresponding chaff cutter component under the general or Tribal Sub Plan heads on i-Khedut rather than applying here.
• You own fewer than five animals. The five-animal floor is the scheme's scale test.
• You are not a permanent resident of Gujarat. The Directorate of Animal Husbandry's schemes are state-funded and state-limited.
• You already bought the chaff cutter before approval. The scheme runs approval-first, and a machine purchased in advance falls outside the process.
• You buy from a vendor that is not on the approved list, in which case the bill will not support a subsidy claim.
• You are an institution, co-operative or company rather than an individual livestock keeper. The benefit is an individual beneficiary subsidy.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the chaff cutter subsidy on i-Khedut

1. Open the i-Khedut portal at ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in. This is the Government of Gujarat's common portal for agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, fisheries and allied scheme applications.
2. Go to the Schemes section and select Animal Husbandry schemes. The directorate's components are listed there, each with its own open or closed status for the current window.
3. Find the power driven chaff cutter component for the Scheduled Caste category and choose Apply. Applying under the wrong category component is the most common avoidable error.
4. Select "Apply New" if you are a first-time applicant, and complete the application form with your personal details, caste category, residence, animal holding and bank account details.
5. Confirm the application. An unconfirmed application on i-Khedut is not treated as submitted, so complete this step before leaving the portal.
6. Print the confirmed application and keep the application number.
7. Submit the printed application with the supporting documents to the local animal husbandry office or the office named on the printed form, within the time the portal states.
8. Wait for approval. Do not buy the machine yet.
9. After approval, buy the chaff cutter from a government-approved vendor and submit the purchase bill to claim the subsidy. The amount is then credited to your bank account.

How do I check my application status?

1. Return to ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in and open the Applicant Corner (frm_Applicant_Corner.aspx).
2. Enter your application number and the identity details you registered with.
3. The portal shows whether the application is confirmed, whether the printed copy and documents were received, and whether it has been approved.
4. If the record does not update, contact the taluka or district animal husbandry office where you submitted the physical papers, quoting the application number.

When can I apply?

i-Khedut does not keep every component open continuously. The Government of Gujarat opens each department's scheme components for defined windows during the financial year, usually announced on the portal home page, and applications are accepted only while the relevant component shows as open. Applications are processed against the sanctioned target for the district under the Scheduled Castes Sub Plan, so filing early in a window is materially better than filing on the last day.

Because these windows are announced afresh each year and are not fixed calendar dates, this guide does not state a date. Check the Animal Husbandry section of i-Khedut, or ask the taluka animal husbandry office, for the current window.

Common reasons applications are rejected

• Applied under the wrong category component, for example the general component instead of the Scheduled Caste one.
• Caste certificate missing or issued by an authority that is not competent.
• Animal ownership not proved, or the holding is below five animals.
• Application confirmed online but the printed copy and documents never submitted to the office within the stated time.
• Machine purchased before approval, or bought from a vendor not on the approved list.
• Bank account inactive or not Aadhaar-seeded, which blocks the credit even after sanction.
• Target for the district exhausted for that year, in which case the applicant is not disqualified and can apply again in the next window.

Where do I get help?

• Taluka or district Animal Husbandry office, which is the working office for this scheme and the place the physical application is submitted.
• Directorate of Animal Husbandry, Gujarat, at doah.gujarat.gov.in, for scheme circulars and the current list of components.
• i-Khedut Applicant Corner, for application status and reprints.

No fee is payable to apply for this subsidy. The only money the beneficiary spends is the 25% or more share of the machine's price that the subsidy does not cover, paid to the approved vendor against a bill.