The Government on Thursday released the 16th instalment of Direct Benefit Transfer under the PM-Kisan program reaching the figure of Rs 3 lakh crore disbursed till date, says Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
One of the largest DBT programmes in the world, PM KISAN has crossed a new milestone. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi releasing the 16th instalment from Yavatmal in Maharashtra the scheme has benefitted more than 11 crore eligible farmer families with Rs 3 lakh crores disbursed till date.
Of this, Rs 1.75 lakh Crores was transferred to eligible farmers during the COVID period alone, when they needed direct cash benefits the most.
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 of India launched an ambitious scheme for farmers’ welfare – the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) on 2nd February 2019.
Under the scheme, the eligible farmer families are provided a benefit of Rs. 6000 per year in three equal instalments of Rs. 2000 each, every four months. The benefit is transferred directly to the bank accounts of eligible beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer mode, using modern digital technology.
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 scheme, the ministry said in the release.
The scheme is an example of cooperative federalism as the States register and verify the eligibility of farmers while the Government of India provides 100 per cent 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 per cent of small and marginal farmers being the beneficiaries under the scheme.
