Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release the 17th installment of PM Kisan Yojana in Varanasi today i.e. on Tuesday. Under this, more than 9.26 crore farmers will get benefits of more than Rs 20,000 crore. So far, more than Rs 3.04 lakh crore has been paid to more than 11 crore farmers across the country and with the release of the 17th installment, the total amount transferred to the beneficiaries since the launch of the scheme will exceed Rs 3.24 lakh crore. After becoming the Prime Minister for the third consecutive time, Narendra Modi first took a big decision in the interest of farmers. Just 16 hours after taking oath, PM Modi signed the file to release the 17th installment of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi. Let us know in detail about the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) Yojana and also tell you when this scheme was started?
In fact, the Government of India launched the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme on 2 February 2019, keeping in mind the need for positive supplementary income support for farmer families in the country and to promote a productive, competitive, diversified, inclusive and sustainable agriculture sector. Under the scheme, Rs 6000 per year i.e. Rs 2000 every four months is transferred to the bank accounts of eligible farmer families through direct benefit transfer mode.
made the agriculture sector more advanced
The initiative is one of the world’s largest direct benefit transfer schemes, leveraging digital platforms for transparent enrollment, authentication, and nationwide coverage. By eliminating the role of intermediaries, the scheme ensures equitable support to all eligible farmers, which is a significant step towards agricultural empowerment and financial inclusion. PM-KISAN Yojana has further advanced India’s agriculture sector. The scheme addresses the challenges of farmers and provides them with critical financial support to access resources. The scheme enables them to invest in crop maintenance, optimize yields, and reach their projected income levels with each cycle. PM-KISAN has thus eliminated farmers’ dependence on moneylenders, promoted sustainable agricultural practices, and secured farmers’ livelihoods for the future.
Example of Cooperative Federalism
The scheme presents a perfect 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.
Promoting inclusivity
At least one out of every four beneficiaries under this scheme is a woman farmer. Not only this, more than 85% of the small and marginal farmers are beneficiaries of the scheme, which shows that all the beneficiaries have been equally included under it.
Technology for transparency
Continuous improvements have been made in the farmer-centric digital infrastructure to make the scheme more efficient, effective and transparent to ensure that all farmers across the country are benefited without the involvement of middlemen. PM-KISAN portal has been integrated with UIDAI, PFMS, NPCI and Income Tax Department portals. States/UTs and all other stakeholders are on board the PM-KISAN platform to provide prompt services to farmers, while farmers can register their grievances on the PM-KISAN portal, avail 24×7 call facility for effective and timely resolution.
The Government of India has also developed ‘Kisan e-Mitra’ (a voice-based AI chatbot), which enables farmers to ask questions in their own language and get them resolved in real-time. Kisan-e-Mitra is now available in 11 languages i.e. English, Hindi, Odia, Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam, Gujarati, Punjabi, Kannada, Telugu and Marathi. Other technological interventions under PM-KISAN include the inclusion of more than 5.0 lakh Common Service Centres across the country to provide scheme-related services to eligible farmers. Linking of Indian Post Payments Bank (IPPB) with PM KISAN Yojana has facilitated hassle-free opening of Aadhaar bank accounts of beneficiaries at their convenience.
Government of India is using Agri Stack, a modern technology tool for farmer services to expand PM Kisan Yojana and ensure 100% saturation of farmers. Agri Stack will provide a Kisan ID to all farmers using Aadhaar, which will be linked to the land and crops sown by them. This will help the states and central government in ensuring the benefits to our farmers in a proactive manner. Agri Stack will not only benefit PM Kisan, but through this farmers will be able to connect to many other schemes and services.
Achievements and honors
So far, assistance amount of Rs 3.04 lakh crore has been provided to more than 11 crore farmers across the country under PM-KISAN scheme. With the release of the 17th installment, the total amount released to the farmers will exceed Rs 3.24 lakh crore. Out of this, Rs 1.75 lakh crore was transferred to eligible farmers during the Covid period, when they needed direct cash benefit amount the most. Apart from this, more than 1 crore eligible farmers including 6 lakh Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) farmers were linked to PM Kisan Samman Yojana during the recently launched Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra to ensure saturation of Central Government welfare schemes in more than 2.60 lakh Gram Panchayats.
In the last five years, the scheme has set new records of success. The scheme has received praise from various organisations including the World Bank for its comprehensive vision, scale and seamless transfer of funds directly into the accounts of eligible farmers. A study conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) among farmers of Uttar Pradesh has revealed that most of the farmers benefited under PM-KISAN and received the full amount without any hassle. According to the study, farmers who received assistance under PM-KISAN were more likely to invest in the purchase of agricultural equipment, seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. (IANS)
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