Benefits transferred to farmers under PM Kisan cross Rs 3 lakh cr

March 2, 2024: The Centre has released Rs 3 lakh crores under its flagship Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana (PM Kisan) till date. Of this, Rs 1.75 lakh crore was transferred to eligible farmers during the COVID-19 period alone, when they needed direct cash benefits the most, the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare said on March 1.

Table of Contents

A Central government scheme to provide monetary support to farmers in India, the scheme is one of the largest direct benefit transfer programmes in the world. Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the 16^th instalment of the scheme from Yavatmal in Maharashtra on February 28, benefitting more than 11 crore eligible farmer families.

“Considering the need for positive supplementary income support for the farmer families in the country and to promote a productive, competitive, diversified, inclusive and sustainable agriculture sector, the government launched this ambitious scheme for farmers’ welfare on February 2, 2019. Under the scheme, the eligible farmer families are provided a benefit of Rs ,6000 per year in three equal instalments of Rs 2,000 each, every four months. The benefit is transferred directly to the bank accounts of eligible beneficiaries through modern digital technology.

90 lakh new beneficiaries added

Recently, as part of the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, undertaken to ensure saturation of government’s welfare schemes across more than 2.60 lakh gram panchayats, 90 lakh eligible farmers were added to the PM Kisan scheme.

In the last five years, the scheme has crossed many milestones and has received accolades from various organizations, including the World Bank, for its sheer vision, scale, and the seamless transfer of funds directly to the accounts of eligible farmers.

A study conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) on farmers of Uttar Pradesh indicates that the benefits under the PM Kisan reached majority of farmers, and they received the full amount without any leakages. As per the same study, the farmers receiving cash transfers under PM Kisan were more likely to invest in buying agricultural equipment, seeds, fertiliser and pesticides.

Technology for transparency

With an objective to make the scheme more efficient, effective and transparent, continuous improvements in a farmer-centric digital infrastructure have been made to ensure the benefits of the scheme reach all the farmers across the country without any middleman involvement. The PM Kisan portal has been integrated with the portals of UIDAI, PFMS, NPCI and the Income Tax Department. The states/ UTs and all other stakeholders are on-boarded on the PM Kisan platform to provide quick services to the farmers.

While farmers can register their grievances on the PM Kisan portal and take the help of a 24×7 call facility for an effective and timely resolution, Government of India has also developed ‘Kisan e-Mitra’ (a voice-based AI Chatbot), which enables farmers to raise queries and get them resolved in their own language in real-time. The Kisan-eMitra is now available in 10 languages i.e., English, Hindi, Odia, Tamil, Bangla, Malayalam, Gujarati, Punjabi, Telugu and Marathi.

“The scheme is a shining example of cooperative federalism as the States register and verify the eligibility of farmers while the government of India provides 100% funding for the scheme. The inclusive nature of the scheme is reflected in the fact that at least one out of four beneficiaries is a woman farmer, besides more than 85% of small and marginal farmers being the beneficiaries under the scheme,” the ministry said.

Got any questions or point of view on our article? We would love to hear from you. Write to our Editor-in-Chief Jhumur Ghosh at jhumur.ghosh1@housing.com

Was this article useful?

😃 (0)
😐 (0)
😔 (0)

Sunita Mishra

An alumna of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal, Sunita Mishra brings over 16 years of expertise to the fields of legal matters, financial insights, and property market trends. Recognised for her ability to elucidate complex topics, her articles serve as a go-to resource for home buyers navigating intricate subjects. Through her extensive career, she has been associated with esteemed organisations like the Financial Express, Hindustan Times, Network18, All India Radio, and Business Standard.

In addition to her professional accomplishments, Sunita holds an MA degree in Sanskrit, with a specialisation in Indian Philosophy, from Delhi University. Outside of her work schedule, she likes to unwind by practising Yoga, and pursues her passion for travel.
sunita.mishra@proptiger.com