PM Kisan Scheme

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi is a central sector scheme under the government of India which provides income support to the farmers and their families. PM-KISAN scheme was first implemented as the Rythu Bandhu scheme by the Government of Telangana where a certain amount was handed directly to the eligible farmers. Later, on 1 February 2019, during the 2019 Interim Union Budget of India, Piyush Goyal announced the implementation of this scheme as a nationwide project.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the PM-KISAN scheme on 24 February 2019 in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. Under this scheme, all small and marginal farmers will be provided with income support of Rs.6,000 per year in three instalments which will be deposited directly to their bank accounts. The total annual expenditure for this scheme is expected to be Rs.75,000 crore which will be financed by the Union Government.

Objectives of PM-KISAN scheme

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana is implemented as a central sector scheme by the Government of India. This scheme was introduced to augment the source of income of many small and marginal farmers. The main objectives of the PM-KISAN scheme are mentioned below:

• To provide income support to all eligible land-holding farmers and their families.
• PM-KISAN scheme also aims to supplement the financial needs of the farmers in procuring various inputs to ensure proper crop health and appropriate yields, commensurate with the anticipated farm income.
• The scheme is expected to increase the coverage of PM-KISAN to around 14.5 crore beneficiaries. It aims to cover around 2 crores more farmers with an estimated expenditure of Rs. 87,217.50 crores that will be funded by the Central Government.

Eligibility to avail benefits under PM-KISAN scheme

Any small or marginal farmer should not fall under the following criteria to be eligible under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana. Below are some of the categories of beneficiaries who are not eligible for benefit under this scheme:

1. Any institutional land-holders.
2. The farmer as well as any member of the family belonging to the following categories:
3. Former and present holders of constitutional posts
4. Former and present Ministers/ State Ministers
5. Former or present members of LokSabha/ RajyaSabha/ State Legislative Assemblies/ State Legislative Councils
6. Former and present Mayors of Municipal Corporations
7. Former and present Chairpersons of District Panchayats.
8. Any serving or retired officers as well as employees under the Central/ State Government Ministries /Offices/Departments.
9. All retired pensioners who get a monthly pension of Rs.10,000/-or more and belonging to the above category.
10. Any individual who paid their income tax in the last assessment year is not eligible under this scheme.
11. Professionals like Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Chartered Accountants, and Architects registered with Professional bodies and carrying out profession by undertaking practices.

The farmers eligible under the scheme are required to produce the below-mentioned documents for their verification:

• Citizenship certificate
• Landholding papers
• Aadhaar card
• Bank account details

Advantages of PM-KISAN Scheme

Given below are the advantages and the impact of the PM-KISAN schemes:

• The direct transfer of funds is one of the biggest advantages of this scheme. On December 25, 2020, in the presence of PM Narendra Modi, Rs.18,000 crores were directly transferred to the bank accounts of 9 crore farmers
• All the records related to farmers is registered officially on a digital platform which has made the registration and fund transfer easy. The digitalised records have brought about a new start to this welfare scheme
• This scheme eases liquidity constraints of farmers
• PM-KISAN yojana is a big step towards the Government’s initiatives of modernisation of agriculture
• There is no discrimination in choosing the PM-KISAN beneficiaries

Key Points

• About:
  
  • Under the scheme, the Centre transfers an amount of Rs 6,000 per year, in three equal instalments, directly into the bank accounts of all landholding farmers irrespective of the size of their land holdings.
    
    • It was launched in February 2019.
• Funding and Implementation:
  
  • It is a Central Sector Scheme with 100% funding from the Government of India.
  • It is being implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• Identification of Beneficiaries:
  
  • The entire responsibility of identification of beneficiary farmer families rests with the State / UT Governments.
• Objective:
  
  • To supplement the financial needs of the Small and Marginal Farmers in procuring various inputs to ensure proper crop health and appropriate yields, commensurate with the anticipated farm income at the end of each crop cycle.
  • To protect them from falling in the clutches of moneylenders for meeting such expenses and ensure their continuance in the farming activities.
• PM-KISAN Mobile App:
  
  • The PM-KISAN Mobile App developed and designed by the National Informatics Centre in collaboration with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has been launched.
  • The farmers can view the status of their application, update or carry out corrections of their Aadhaar cards and also check the history of credits to their bank accounts.