A Union Minister has been found to have obtained a 50 per cent subsidy of nearly Rs 99.60 lakh meant to promote "commercial farming"—on a large scale for profit—of select vegetables and flowers through a scheme under his own ministry and approved by a board in which he serves as ex-officio Vice-President.
An investigation by The Indian Express has revealed that Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Bhagirath Choudhary received the subsidy in March this year under the National Horticulture Board's (NHB) "Development of Commercial Horticulture through Production and Post-Harvest Management of Horticulture Crops" scheme, which falls under the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture.
The subsidy was sanctioned for a cucumber cultivation project spread across 16,592 square metres at Choudhary's farm in Peeh village in Rajasthan's Deedwana-Kuchaman district. A mandatory signboard erected at the site records that the project, costing Rs 1.99 crore, was assisted by the NHB under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, with a subsidy of Rs 99.60 lakh.
The NHB functions under the administrative control of the Agriculture Ministry. Its Board of Directors is headed by the Union Agriculture Minister as ex-officio President, while the Minister of State for Agriculture serves as ex-officio Vice-President.
Although the final approval of projects is granted by a separate NHB project approval committee that excludes the board's President and Vice-President, the disclosure has raised questions over a potential conflict of interest, according to a TIE investigation.
Official records show that Choudhary applied for in-principle approval on April 15, 2025, and secured clearance within 14 days. The project received final approval on March 11, 2026, following which a capital investment subsidy of Rs 99.03 lakh was credited on March 30 to his HDFC Bank loan account. The records do not explain the discrepancy between the transferred amount and the Rs 99.60 lakh displayed on the project signboard.
The project was financed through a term loan of Rs 1.49 crore from HDFC Bank, while Choudhary's contribution stood at Rs 49.8 lakh.
Choudhary, the BJP MP from Ajmer who has served as Minister of State in the Agriculture Ministry since 2024, did not respond to a detailed questionnaire from The Indian Express on whether receiving the subsidy constituted a conflict of interest. His office acknowledged receipt of the queries, while an aide said details of the project would be disclosed to the government.
The report also noted that Choudhary had unsuccessfully applied for assistance under the same scheme in 2018, while a separate application by his son for a similar horticulture project was rejected that year for failing to meet the scheme's eligibility conditions.