Nalkoop Khanan Yojana (Madhya Pradesh Tube Well Digging Scheme)

What is Nalkoop Khanan Yojana?

Nalkoop Khanan Yojana is a state-funded irrigation scheme of the Farmer Welfare and Agriculture Development Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh, run for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe farmers. The scheme addresses a narrow but severe problem: a large share of SC and ST holdings in Madhya Pradesh are rainfed, and a single failed monsoon wipes out the season. A tube well converts such a holding into an irrigated one, allowing a second crop in Rabi, but the capital cost of drilling and a pump is beyond a smallholder's own means.

The scheme is written in Hindi as Nalkoop Khanan Yojana and is also referred to in departmental papers as the state-funded tube well scheme (Rajya Poshit Nalkoop Yojana). It is a state scheme, not a centrally sponsored one, which is why it appears in the state agriculture budget rather than under a national mission head.

Two structural features define it. First, it is category-restricted: only SC and ST farmers are covered, and there is no general-category window. Second, it is groundwater-constrained. The scheme is not implemented in blocks that the state groundwater authority has classified as critical, semi-critical or over-exploited, because sanctioning new extraction in a depleted block would work against the state's own groundwater rules. Reported implementation covers the large majority of the state's districts, with the excluded blocks varying as groundwater classifications are revised.

How much benefit does Nalkoop Khanan Yojana provide?

Published descriptions of the state-funded tube well scheme report assistance of up to about Rs 40,000 per beneficiary, made up of two parts:

• a drilling component, reported at up to about Rs 25,000, towards the cost of boring the tube well; and
• a pump component, towards the pump set installed on the completed well.

Assistance for unsuccessful drilling. A borewell that yields no usable water; has also been reported under the scheme at a lower ceiling, on the reasoning that the farmer has already incurred the drilling cost regardless of the outcome. Published figures for this component vary between sources.

Because these ceilings are fixed by departmental order and revised from time to time, treat the numbers above as reported figures and confirm the current sanctioned rate at your block agriculture office before you commission any drilling. The one thing that does not vary is the payment route: the grant is released by Direct Benefit Transfer into the beneficiary's Aadhaar-seeded bank account, not in cash and not to the drilling contractor.

The assistance is a partial grant, not full funding. A tube well with a pump typically costs considerably more than the ceiling, so the farmer meets the balance from his own funds or, as several descriptions of the scheme note, from a loan taken from a cooperative or commercial bank. Arranging that balance before applying is the practical precondition for the scheme working at all.

Who is eligible for Nalkoop Khanan Yojana?

You can apply if:

• You are a resident farmer of Madhya Pradesh.
• You belong to the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe category and hold a valid caste certificate.
• You own cultivable agricultural land recorded in your own name in the khasra or B-1.
• Your holding has no existing working tube well, the scheme is meant to create a first irrigation source, not a second one.
• Your land lies in a block that is not classified critical, semi-critical or over-exploited for groundwater.
• You can arrange the balance cost above the grant ceiling, from your own funds or a bank loan.

You cannot apply if:

• You are a general or OBC category farmer. Those categories are not eligible under this scheme and must look to other irrigation programmes.
• You already have a functioning tube well on the same holding.
• Your land is in a groundwater-stressed block where new tube wells are not sanctioned.
• You are a landless labourer or a tenant without land recorded in your name.
• You dug the tube well before applying, retrospective sanction is not the design of the scheme, and prior administrative approval is expected.
• Your district's target for the year is exhausted, in which case the application waits for the next year's allotment.

What documents are required for Nalkoop Khanan Yojana?

How to apply for Nalkoop Khanan Yojana

1. Meet the Rural Agriculture Extension Officer (RAEO) of your village circle and state that you want to apply under the tube well scheme for SC/ST farmers. Ask first whether your block is open for new tube wells under the current groundwater classification, if it is not, nothing else will help.
2. Submit the application with documents; caste certificate, khasra or B-1, Aadhaar, bank passbook and Samagra ID — to the RAEO, who forwards it to the Senior Agriculture Development Officer (SADO) of the block.
3. Wait for administrative sanction. The block office checks eligibility against the district's physical and financial target for the year and issues an approval before any work starts. Do not begin drilling before this.
4. Get the site marked and commission the drilling through a drilling agency or contractor, arranging the balance cost yourself or through a bank loan.
5. Get the completed work verified by the field officer, who records whether the well was successful or unsuccessful and the depth drilled.
6. Submit the drilling bill and completion report to the block office.
7. Receive the grant by DBT into your Aadhaar-seeded bank account, and check the credit in your passbook.

How to check your Nalkoop Khanan Yojana application status

1. Visit the Senior Agriculture Development Officer's office in your block and ask for the position of your file against the year's target.
2. Ask specifically whether administrative sanction has been issued, and take a copy of the sanction order if it has.
3. After submitting the bill, ask whether the verification report has been sent to the district office, which is where most delays sit.
4. Check your bank passbook or SMS alerts for the DBT credit; the department pays into the account, so the bank is the final confirmation.

Why do Nalkoop Khanan Yojana applications get rejected?

• Block classified as groundwater-stressed, where new tube wells are not sanctioned at all.
• Existing tube well on the holding, discovered at field verification.
• Land not in the applicant's name in the khasra or B-1.
• Caste certificate missing, expired or from an incompetent authority.
• Work started before sanction, the most avoidable rejection, and the most expensive, because the money is already spent.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, which stops the DBT even after approval.
• District target exhausted for the financial year.

The fixes are practical. Get the khasra corrected by the patwari before applying; get the account Aadhaar-seeded at the bank branch; and above all, get the sanction letter in hand before calling the drilling rig.

Key dates and target cycle

Nalkoop Khanan Yojana runs on the financial year target cycle, April to March. Districts receive a physical target. A number of tube wells, and a matching financial allocation, and applications are cleared against that target until it runs out. There is no fixed statewide last date; in practice the useful window is early in the financial year, and applications received after the target is exhausted are carried forward. Farmers who want the well ready for the Rabi season should apply well before the monsoon ends.

Where to complain about Nalkoop Khanan Yojana

• Senior Agriculture Development Officer (SADO) of the block; first level for delay in sanction, verification or bill processing.
• Deputy Director Agriculture (DDA) at the district collectorate; appeal level, and the office holding the district target.
• CM Helpline 181. The Madhya Pradesh public grievance line, which routes agriculture complaints to the district agriculture office and issues a trackable complaint number.
• Kisan Call Centre 1800-180-1551: general farm scheme and advisory queries in Hindi.
• mpkrishi.mp.gov.in: department portal with district office contacts and scheme notices.

No official may take a fee to sanction a tube well, and no drilling contractor should collect the government grant on the farmer's behalf. The grant reaches the farmer's own bank account, and any demand to route it elsewhere should be reported to the Deputy Director Agriculture.