Kisan Kaleva Yojana

What is Kisan Kaleva Yojana?

Kisan Kaleva Yojana is a subsidised meal scheme run inside Rajasthan's regulated agricultural markets by the Directorate of Agricultural Marketing and the Rajasthan State Agricultural Marketing Board (RSAMB), working through individual Krishi Upaj Mandi Samitis.

Under Kisan Kaleva Yojana a farmer who brings produce to a notified mandi yard pays Rs 5 for a full meal. The real cost of the plate is about Rs 40, and the Mandi Samiti absorbs the remaining Rs 35 from its own market fee income.

The scheme has a longer history than its current name suggests. Rajasthan launched it in 2009 as Apni Rasoi Yojana, and restructured and renamed it Kisan Kaleva Yojana in 2014. The word kaleva is the Rajasthani term for a light meal or the food a traveller carries, which is precisely the situation the scheme addresses.

The problem is a real one. A farmer bringing a tractor-trolley of wheat or mustard to a mandi often waits a full day for weighing, auction and payment, with no affordable food inside the yard and no way to leave the produce unattended. Before the scheme, the choice was to carry food from home or to pay private canteen rates on a day when payment had not yet arrived.

Key features

• Meal at Rs 5 to the beneficiary, with roughly Rs 35 borne by the Mandi Samiti.
• Runs in Super, A-class and B-class Krishi Upaj Mandi Samitis.
• Fruit and vegetable mandi yards are excluded from the scheme.
• Coupons issued at the mandi gate, normally two per farmer vehicle.
• Covers hamals, palledars and tularas. The loaders, porters and weighmen who work in the yard: as well as farmers.

Who is eligible for Kisan Kaleva Yojana?

You can get a Kisan Kaleva coupon if:

• You are a farmer bringing agricultural produce to a notified Krishi Upaj Mandi yard for sale, and your vehicle has entered through the mandi gate.
• You are the assistant or driver accompanying that farmer's vehicle. The second of the two coupons issued per vehicle is meant for you.
• You are a registered hamal, palledar or tulara working in that mandi, that is a loader, a porter or a weighman carrying the Mandi Samiti's identity.

You cannot claim the subsidised meal if:

• You have come to the mandi without agricultural produce. The coupon is tied to a produce-carrying vehicle entering the yard.
• You are at a fruit and vegetable mandi yard, which the scheme excludes.
• You are at a mandi below B-class, where the scheme is not operated.
• You are a trader, commission agent or general visitor rather than a farmer or a registered mandi worker.

There is no income test, no caste condition and no land-holding requirement. A tenant farmer or a sharecropper bringing produce to the mandi is treated the same as a landowner, because the trigger for the benefit is the produce at the gate, not the record of rights on the land.

What is served under Kisan Kaleva Yojana?

The Directorate of Agricultural Marketing fixes the composition of the plate so that a Mandi Samiti cannot quietly shrink it. The plate contains:

• 8 chapatis
• One katori of dal
• One katori of vegetable (sabzi)
• Gud (jaggery) in winter, or buttermilk (chhachh) in summer

The plate is a full working meal rather than a token snack, which is why the unsubsidised cost sits at around Rs 40.

What documents do you need for Kisan Kaleva Yojana?

Kisan Kaleva Yojana deliberately keeps documentation light. A farmer arriving at five in the morning with a trolley of grain cannot be expected to produce an income certificate, and the scheme does not ask for one.

How to apply for Kisan Kaleva Yojana

Kisan Kaleva Yojana has no application form and no online portal. The route is entirely at the mandi.

1. Bring your produce to a notified mandi. Drive your tractor-trolley or loaded vehicle into a Super, A-class or B-class Krishi Upaj Mandi yard during working hours.
2. Collect the gate entry slip from the mandi gate staff as your vehicle is recorded on entry.
3. Ask for the Kisan Kaleva coupons at the gate. Two coupons are normally issued per vehicle, one for the farmer and one for the accompanying helper. Carry an identity document in case the gate staff ask.
4. Go to the mandi canteen running under the scheme, hand over the coupon and pay Rs 5 per plate.
5. Collect the fixed plate and check that it carries the full prescribed quantity before leaving the counter.

Mandi workers follow the same route but present their Mandi Samiti identity card or labour licence at the coupon counter instead of a gate slip.

How does the money reach the canteen?

The canteen inside the mandi is run by a contractor or a self-help group selected by the Krishi Upaj Mandi Samiti. The contractor collects Rs 5 per plate from the beneficiary and claims the balance from the Mandi Samiti against the number of coupons redeemed. Coupon counts are the audit trail for the whole scheme, which is why the gate slip and the coupon matter more than any identity document.

Because the subsidy is paid out of mandi income, the scheme's reach follows mandi activity. Rajasthan reported that during 2018-19 subsidised food was served to about 30.72 lakh farmers and labourers in market yards, at a cost of roughly Rs 7.19 crore.

What commonly goes wrong at the mandi?

• Coupons run out at a busy gate during peak arrival season. Ask the gate staff when the next lot will be issued rather than paying full canteen rates.
• The canteen demands more than Rs 5. This is a breach of the contractor's agreement with the Mandi Samiti and should be reported to the Secretary.
• The plate is short of the prescribed 8 chapatis and two katoris. The composition is fixed and can be enforced.
• The mandi is a fruit and vegetable yard, which is outside the scheme. Check the class of the mandi rather than assuming coverage.
• No coupon for the helper. The second coupon per vehicle exists precisely for the person accompanying the farmer, so ask for both.

Where to complain about Kisan Kaleva Yojana

• Secretary of the Krishi Upaj Mandi Samiti at the mandi concerned. The first and most effective point of contact for canteen complaints.
• Rajasthan Sampark helpline: 181 for a written, trackable grievance.
• Rajasthan State Agricultural Marketing Board at rsamb.rajasthan.gov.in for policy-level issues and mandi-wise information.
• District Deputy Director, Agricultural Marketing for complaints the Mandi Samiti does not resolve.

Kisan Kaleva Yojana costs the farmer exactly Rs 5 per plate. No coupon is sold, no agent stands between the gate and the canteen, and any demand for extra payment is a complaint worth making on the spot while the coupon is still in hand.