Integrated Horticulture Development Plan Scheme for Scheduled Caste Families (SCSP)

What is the Integrated Horticulture Development scheme for Scheduled Caste families?

Integrated Horticulture Development Plan Scheme for Scheduled Caste Families is the Scheduled Caste Sub Plan component of the Haryana Horticulture Department's Integrated Horticulture Development scheme. It appears under that name on the Haryana State DBT Portal among the four schemes of the Department of Horticulture.

The Horticulture Department administers three related lines of assistance together under one set of cost norms: IHD (the state's own Integrated Horticulture Development scheme, carried in the budget as IHD-65 under subsidy head 11), SCSP (the Scheduled Caste Sub Plan), and MIDH (the centrally sponsored Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture). The department's document "Cost Norms & Guidelines of Crop Production Components under Departmental Schemes (IHD, MIDH & SCSP)" sets the rates for all three, and the Annual Action Plan under the IHD scheme was circulated to all District Horticulture Officers by directorate memo No. Hort./62/I/IHD/2024-25/14719-40 dated 28 June 2024.

What the SCSP component does is simple and substantial: it raises the subsidy percentage for Scheduled Caste farmers on the same components that general category farmers can claim. Where a general farmer is paid 50 per cent of the notified unit cost, a Scheduled Caste farmer is paid 85 per cent.

How much does the SCSP horticulture subsidy pay?

The clearest picture comes from the components where the guidelines set an explicit SCSP rate side by side with the general rate.

Bamboo staking also carries a special 75 per cent Shivalik rate of Rs 1,17,187 for the three Shivalik districts, which the guidelines name as Panchkula, Ambala and Yamunanagar.

Mushroom cultivation is priced per unit rather than per hectare:

Scheduled Caste farmers can also draw the other crop production components in the same guidelines at their notified rates, including area expansion of fruits (unit cost Rs 1,62,500 per hectare for normal plantation at 6m x 7m and above, and Rs 2,50,000 per hectare for high density plantation at 6m x 6m and below, both at 50 per cent), spices cultivation at Rs 75,000 per hectare with 50 per cent subsidy of Rs 37,500, prioritised spices such as garlic, turmeric and ginger at Rs 1,50,000 per hectare with Rs 75,000 subsidy, rejuvenation of senile plantation at Rs 40,000 per hectare with Rs 20,000 subsidy, and solar power and electrical fencing at Rs 700 per running metre with 50 per cent subsidy of Rs 350, capped at 1,500 running metres.

Area expansion subsidies for orchards are released in instalments across three years, not in one payment. For normal plantation the general area subsidy of Rs 63,750 is split as Rs 31,250 in the first year and Rs 16,250 in each of the second and third years. Strawberry is the exception, paid in one instalment.

Who is eligible for the SCSP horticulture subsidy?

You can apply if:

• You are a Scheduled Caste farmer or entrepreneur who is a producer in Haryana. The guidelines restrict assistance to farmers and entrepreneurs who are producers in Haryana State.
• You hold a valid Scheduled Caste certificate to claim the SCSP rate.
• You have an assured source of irrigation. Subsidy on plantation or cultivation is admissible only to a beneficiary who has one.
• You are the only member of your family claiming. Parivar Pehchan Patra is the sole criteria for identifying a family, and only one member per family is eligible under the departmental scheme.
• You are growing an eligible horticultural crop or component as per GOI norms and the state plan scheme guidelines.

You cannot claim, or will be paid at a lower rate, if:

• You are an SC farmer cultivating land taken on lease. The guidelines are explicit that in this case subsidy is released as per the norms of a general category farmer, and an affidavit or consent letter of the landowner is mandatory for the case to be considered, approved and sanctioned.
• You have already taken assistance for the same component from any State or Government of India scheme up to the prescribed limit for the same purpose. Such a farmer is not eligible for any further assistance on that component.
• You are claiming a repeat benefit on the same land. The benefit of a component on the same land shall not be repeated.
• You are a repeat beneficiary. The guidelines say plainly that a beneficiary should not be repeated and that there must be no duplication of farmers for release of subsidy under any component.
• You want a perennial crop or permanent structure on Panchayat land. Seasonal horticulture activities of less than one year are allowed on Panchayat land with a Gram Panchayat agreement letter, but this does not extend to orchard establishment or permanent structures.
• You are establishing a new orchard on leased land without a registered 20-year lease agreement, which the guidelines require.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the SCSP horticulture subsidy

1. Register on Meri Fasal Mera Byora at fasal.haryana.gov.in and keep the registration number, which the application asks for.
2. File the online application on the HORTNET subsidy portal, reachable from hortharyana.gov.in under the Subsidy link. The guidelines require applications for sanction to be made online on the HORTNET portal.
3. Attach the required papers: Parivar Pehchan Patra, Scheduled Caste certificate, bank details with IFSC and account number, the Annexure-II area certificate from the Horticulture Development Officer or Block Officer, and where applicable the Annexure-I lease form and the Annexure-III FPO recommendation letter.
4. Wait for district-level processing. The Directorate allots a district-level target to each District Horticulture Officer, who divides it block-wise in consultation with field staff and in view of local potential and farmer response.
5. Track your position on the seniority list. All applications received during the current financial year are eligible for assistance as per the seniority list and as per norms, subject to availability of funds.
6. Receive the subsidy in your bank account after the work is verified. For orchard area expansion, expect the money across three yearly instalments rather than in one credit.

Farmers who fall outside an identified cluster may apply directly to the concerned District Horticulture Officer for assistance under any component.

How the department tracks and verifies cases

Every District Horticulture Officer must submit a component-wise progress report along with the beneficiary list to headquarters on the 3rd day of every month, with a copy to the concerned Deputy Director of Horticulture, field office or centre. The guidelines also require that the criteria for selection of beneficiaries be unambiguous and without overlapping, that expenditure not exceed the budget allotment, and that no administrative expenses be met from the funds released for subsidy.

For committed liabilities carried over from a previous year, the department requires the concerned officer to confirm that the work has been completed in all respects as per the norms before subsidy is released, and holds the officer responsible in case of negligence.

Why an application gets rejected

• No Scheduled Caste certificate on record, so the case falls to general category rates.
• Land taken on lease by an SC farmer, which by rule attracts general category rates and requires a landowner's affidavit or consent letter.
• No assured source of irrigation on the plot.
• Another family member has already claimed; PPP identifies the family and only one member qualifies.
• Assistance already drawn for the same component from another state or central scheme up to the prescribed limit.
• Repeat claim on the same land without adding additional area. A farmer who took assistance on one acre must sow two acres to claim again, and so on up to the maximum limit.
• Missing Annexure-II area certificate from the HDO or Block Officer.
• Funds exhausted for the year, in which case the case waits for the next financial year's allotment rather than being refused on merit.

Help and grievance redressal

• District Horticulture Officer for the district, the sanctioning authority and the right first stop.
• Horticulture Help Centre toll-free number 1800-180-2021, open 9 AM to 5 PM on working days.
• Directorate of Horticulture, Udyaan Bhawan, Sector 21, Panchkula, Haryana 134116, telephone 0172-2582322, email horticulture@hry.nic.in.
• CM Window at cmharyanacell.nic.in for a written state-level grievance.

There is no fee for applying on HORTNET. Subsidy is released to the beneficiary's own bank account, and the monthly beneficiary lists filed by every District Horticulture Officer make the sanctioned cases auditable.

How to check your application status

1. Log in to the HORTNET portal at hortnet.hortharyana.gov.in with the credentials you used at the time of application. HORTNET is the system of record for every subsidy application under IHD, MIDH and SCSP, so the dashboard there is the first and most reliable place to check where a case stands.
2. Open your application under the Subsidy section and check the status field against your Parivar Pehchan Patra and Meri Fasal Mera Byora registration number, both of which the portal uses to identify your case. A case can show as pending verification, forwarded to the District Horticulture Officer, sanctioned, or paid.
3. Ask the District Horticulture Officer's office directly if the portal status has not moved for several weeks. The DHO is the sanctioning authority, and applications are processed against a seniority list for the financial year, so an unchanged status often just means your case is still in queue behind earlier applicants rather than rejected.
4. Call the Horticulture Help Centre toll-free number 1800-180-2021, open 9 AM to 5 PM on working days, and quote your PPP ID and the component you applied under (vegetable cultivation, staking, mushroom cultivation, area expansion, and so on) so the operator can look up the correct case.
5. Check your bank account for credit once the DHO's office confirms field verification of the work is complete. For components paid in a single instalment the subsidy lands as one credit; for orchard area expansion it arrives as the first of three yearly instalments, so a partial credit does not mean the rest has been denied.
6. Escalate to the CM Window at cmharyanacell.nic.in if the DHO's office and the helpline both fail to explain a stalled case, since this is the state government's formal channel for a written, trackable grievance above the department level.

There is no separate SMS or app-based tracker for this scheme; the HORTNET login, the DHO's office, and the helpline are the three checkpoints an applicant actually has.