<P> Soil Health Card Scheme is a scheme launched by the Government of India in February 2015 . Under the scheme, the government plans to issue soil cards to farmers which will carry crop-wise recommendations of nutrients and fertilisers required for the individual farms to help farmers to improve productivity through judicious use of inputs . All soil samples are to be tested in various soil testing labs across the country . Thereafter the experts will analyse the strength and weaknesses (micro-nutrients deficiency) of the soil and suggest measures to deal with it . The result and suggestion will be displayed in the cards . The government plans to issue the cards to 14 crore farmers . </P> <P> The scheme aims at promoting soil test based and balanced use of fertilisers to enable farmers to release higher yields at lower cost . also the main objective is to aware growers about the appropriate amount of nutrients for the concerned crop depending on the quality of soil . </P> <P> An amount of ₹ 568 crore (US $85 million) was allocated by the government for the scheme . In 2016 Union budget of India, ₹ 100 crore (US $15 million) has been allocated to states for making soil health cards and set up labs . </P> <P> As of July 2015, only 34 lakh Soil Health Cards (SHC) were issued to farmers as against a target of 84 lakh for the year 2015--16 . Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Kerala, Mizoram, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and West Bengal were among the states which had not issued a single SHC under the scheme by then . The number grew up to 1.12 crore by February 2016 . As of February 2016, against the target of 104 lakh soil samples, States reported a collection of 81 lakh soil samples and tested 52 lakh samples.As on 16.05. 2017, 725 lakh Soil Health Cards have been distributed to the farmers . </P>

When did the kisan credit card scheme for the farmers start in india