The Centre is all set to transfer more than Rs 19,000 crore to the bank accounts of more than 9.5 crore land-owning farmers beneath the revenue help ‘Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi’ (PM-Kisan) scheme on Friday. This will be the highest quantity to be paid beneath the scheme on a single day.
Farmers in West Bengal will get the PM-Kisan rewards for the initial time if the state government gives the verified information of cultivators by Wednesday.
The last installment on December 25, 2020, saw about Rs 18,000 crore was transferred to some 9 crore farmers. Though total quantity of farmers enrolled beneath the scheme is 10.5 crore, the Centre has accepted information of 9.5 crore right after weeding out ineligible cultivators and enforcing mandatory Aadhaar authentication.
The PM-Kisan scheme, launched in February 2019 (made effective from December 2018) to give revenue help to farmers, expense the exchequer about Rs 1,241 crore in FY19, Rs 48,714 crore in FY20 and Rs 65,000 crore in (RE) FY21. The finance minister has kept the allocation unchanged at Rs 65,000 crore for FY22.
Under the scheme, every land-owning farmer is entitled to get Rs 6,000 each year in 3 equal instalments of Rs 2,000 every as direct revenue help. The existing payment to be transferred Friday is for April-July period.
“The scheme is meant to aid farmers partially meet the expenses on fertilisers and seeds before kharif sowing season that starts from June 1,” stated an agriculture ministry official adding, if the West Bengal government agrees to authenticate and indicators off the 7.5 lakh farmers information, registered and validated so far, they will also get one installment.
States initial upload farmers’ information in the public finance management technique, a platform that auto verifies bank accounts and authenticate Aadhaar specifics of beneficiaries, and then returns the information to states for physical signatures.
After winning state assembly poll for third consecutive term, chief minister Mamata Banerjee has agreed to join PM-Kisan scheme as West Bengal was the only state that resisted implementation.
Prime minister Narendra Modi even made it an electoral concern promising farmers to spend all preceding instalments if BJP was voted to energy. Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar had written to Banerjee a day right after election outcomes had been announced, requesting her to send farmers’ information for the scheme.
Though as lots of as 14 crore land-owning farmers are eligible for PM-Kisan scheme as per the agricultural census of 2015-16, the quantity of actual beneficiaries could be substantially decrease, may perhaps be not more than 12 crore, official sources stated.