MUMBAI, July 31 -- After diverting over Rs.750 crore a month from Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) funds to finance the vote-catching Ladki Bahin scheme, the Maharashtra government has now decided to use the same fund source for the Namo Shetkari Mahasanman Nidhi Yojana (NSMNY). An agriculture department official in the know of the developments said that the state government was facing a fund shortfall and was thus falling back on the SC/ST funds. "It will divert Rs.1,300 crore from the social justice and tribal development departments to finance this cash assistance scheme for farmers," he told HT. The government announced NSMNY, modelled on the lines of the Centre's PM Kisan Yojana, in June 2023. Eligible farmers receive Rs.2,000 every four months under both schemes. The Maharashtra scheme covers more than nine million farmers and entails an annual expenditure of about Rs.5,500 crore. An official from the state finance department pointed out that the Finance Commission, in its 2004 guidelines, had stated that SCs and STs should receive budgetary allocations in proportion to their population, and that these allocations should neither be diverted nor allowed to lapse. "Because these allocations are mandatory, making these departments relatively better off than others, the cash-strapped government has been diverting money from them," he said. The state government is yet to release the two NSMNY instalments that were expected in March and July. The pending instalments will be released once the fund diversion process is completed. The annual budget of the social justice department is around Rs.23,000 crore, while that of the tribal development department exceeds Rs.15,000 crore. The state government has also decided to deduct the Rs.6,000 annual benefit provided under NSMNY from the amount payable under the proposed farm loan waiver scheme announced in July first week....