The Chief Minister's Office of Bihar announced on Monday, 22 June 2026 that the state government has disbursed more than Rs 200 crore directly into the bank accounts of over 3.96 lakh farmers affected by unseasonal rainfall and hailstorms, under the Krishi Input Anudan Yojana (Agricultural Input Grant Scheme) through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mechanism.

Context

The official post from @officecmbihar stated: 'asaamayik varsha evam olaavrishti se prabhavit kisaanon ko badi rahat pradaan karte hue' — 'providing major relief to farmers affected by unseasonal rain and hailstorms' — the state government transferred the grant amount online through DBT into beneficiaries' accounts. The transfer covers farmers enrolled under the Krishi Input Anudan Yojana, a Bihar government scheme specifically designed to compensate cultivators for losses caused by natural calamities.

Bihar's agricultural landscape, spread across the Gangetic plains, is routinely exposed to extreme weather events including hailstorms and erratic monsoon patterns that can devastate standing crops. Rapid financial relief through direct transfers is seen as a critical buffer for smallholder farmers who lack insurance cover or savings to absorb such shocks.

Policy Backdrop

The Krishi Input Anudan Yojana is a state-level scheme that provides grants for agricultural inputs — seeds, fertilisers, and related materials — to farmers whose crops are damaged by natural calamities. It operates on the Direct Benefit Transfer platform, which the Government of India formally expanded in 2013 to route welfare subsidies directly to citizens, cutting out intermediaries and reducing leakage.

Bihar has consistently used DBT-enabled transfers for calamity relief, aligning state welfare delivery with the national push for digital, transparent disbursement. Transferring funds online into individual bank accounts ensures that the grant reaches the intended beneficiary without diversion, a key concern in earlier, cash-based relief systems.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries are the more than 3.96 lakh farmers across Bihar whose crops were damaged by unseasonal rain and hailstorm events preceding the announcement. For smallholder and marginal farmers — who constitute the majority of Bihar's agricultural workforce — a direct grant of this scale can be decisive in funding the next sowing cycle.

The transfer of over Rs 200 crore in a single online disbursement also signals the state's administrative capacity to mobilise large-scale relief rapidly. Agriculture departments and district administrations would have been involved in enumerating affected farmers and validating claims before the transfer was processed.

What's Next

The Bihar agriculture department is expected to release official crop damage survey data ahead of the next sowing cycle, which will determine whether additional tranches under the Krishi Input Anudan Yojana are warranted. The scale and speed of this disbursement may set a benchmark for subsequent calamity-relief rounds in the state.

With Bihar's agricultural calendar closely tied to the monsoon, any further unseasonal weather events before the kharif harvest could trigger fresh assessments and additional DBT transfers. The state government's use of digital infrastructure for relief delivery will also be watched as a model for other flood- and drought-prone states in the Gangetic belt.