Bhubaneswar: After deciding to discontinue the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) programme, the Centre has planned to stop grants for Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) scheme being implemented in each district of Odisha, sources said Thursday. The Ministry of Agriculture has written to the Odisha government and advised the latter to not engage field-level employees under the ATMA scheme for the 2021-22 fiscal.
The Ministry of Finance has decided to stop grants for Sub-Mission on Agricultural Extension (SMAE) from 2021-22 fiscal till 2025. Thus, it would not be possible on the part of the Ministry of Agriculture to grant funds for ATMA, said the letter. The Agriculture Ministry has also asked the state government to reduce the size of employees engaged under the scheme.
With an objective to bring sustainable development in agriculture, the ATMA scheme was launched as a pilot project in Odisha and six other states in the 2005-06 fiscal.
In the initial years, the Centre provided 90 per cent of funds for ATMA while the states contributed 10 per cent. However, the BJP government had revised the cost sharing formula to 60:40 in 2014. Now, the Centre is planning to stop the grants altogether for ATMA scheme which will make it impossible for the state to run the programme.
