Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM KISAN), Objective, Features, Eligibility and Issues

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi

The Indian government’s PM Kisan Yojana central sector programme offers income support to farmers and their families. The Telangana government initially operated the PM-KISAN programme as the Rythu Bandhu programme, which gave qualified farmers a set sum of money in cash. Piyush Goyal later declared the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM KISAN) as a national project during the 2019 Interim Union Budget of India on February 1st.

PM Kisan Samman Nidhi

A government programme in India called PM Kisan Samman Nidhi offers farmers a basic income support of up to 6,000 per year. On February 1, 2019, Piyush Goyal announced this programme at the interim union budget of India for 2019.

The scheme’s yearly cost is 75,000 crore, and it went into action in December 2018. The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana’s goal is to provide farming households across the nation with income support. In accordance with this programme, qualified farmer families receive 6,000 each year, divided into three equal payments. After two years of implementation, as of December 2020, the Government of India had paid out over 94,000 crore to almost 10 crore farmer families. One of the NDA government’s key programmes is this effort.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Objectives

The Indian government runs the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana as a central sector programme. This programme was put in place to help many small and marginal farmers increase their sources of income. The following list includes the PM-KISAN scheme’s primary goals:

• To offer financial assistance to qualifying landowner farmers and their families.
• The PM-KISAN programme also aims to augment farmers’ financial requirements by helping them buy a variety of inputs that will ensure good crop health and adequate yields that are in line with expected farm income.
• The programme is anticipated to expand PM-KISAN’s beneficiary coverage to approximately 14.5 crore people. The Central Government would fund it at an estimated cost of Rs. 87,217.50 crores in order to cover an additional 2 crore farmers.

Read about: Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana 2022

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Eligibility

Regardless of the size of the land, all small and marginal farmer households who own cultivable land are eligible for the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Non-Eligibilty

There are various exclusion categories for the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana (PMKSNY), hence not all farmers are qualified for financial aid under the programme. Beneficiaries in the following groups are not eligible for the PMKSNY:

• Institutional landholders
• Farmer families belonging to one or more of the following categories:
• Present and former holders of constitutional posts
• Former and present ministers/state ministers
• Present and former members of Rajya Sabha/State Legislative Assemblies/Lok Sabha/State Legislative Councils
• Former and present Mayors of Municipal Corporations
• Present and former Chairpersons of District Panchayats
• All officers and employees of State and Central Government Ministries, Departments, and Offices, as well as their field units, as well as State and Central PSEs and Attached Autonomous Institutions/Offices under Government, as well as regular employees of Local Bodies (with the exception of Multi-Tasking Staff/Group D/Class IV employees)
• Every retired or superannuated pensioner receiving a monthly pension of at least 10,000 Japanese Yen (excluding members of the Multi-Tasking Staff, Group D, and Class IV personnel of the aforementioned categories);
• Every person who paid income taxes in the most recent AY
• By engaging in practises, professionals like engineers, architects, lawyers, surgeons, and chartered accountants who are members of professional bodies carry out their professions.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Feature

Income Support: The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana’s main component is the guarantee of a minimum income for farmers.  Three equal instalments of Rs. 6000 are given to eligible farming families every four months.

Usage Flexibility: Beneficiaries are free to use the money they receive as part of the programme however they see fit.  They are free to utilise it anyway they see fit and for any number of things.

Funding: The Indian government provides all of the funding for the PMKSNY programme. Initially, this initiative was given a reserve of Rs. 75,000 crore per year, with direct transfers made through DBT to the beneficiaries’ bank accounts.

Identification Responsibility: The State and Union Territory administrations are in charge of identifying the recipients, and the Government of India is in charge of providing the funding.  In order to be eligible for the programme, farmer families must consist of a husband, wife, and minor child or children, as determined by these governments.

Advantages of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Form

• DBT: The direct transfer of funds is one of the biggest advantages of this scheme which eliminates intermediaries.
• Great coverage: The scheme covers all farmer families in the country irrespective of the size of their land holdings.
• Digitization: All the records related to farmers are registered officially on a digital platform which has made the registration and fund transfer easy.
• Liquidity to farmers: This scheme eases liquidity constraints of farmers. It enables farmers to take care of expenses related to agriculture and allied activities as well as domestic needs.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Issues

• Tenant farmers and landless agricultural labourers are not included in the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi programme.
• The grievance redressal procedure in the scheme needs a clearer framework.
• The programme must encompass a large number of eligible farmers in multiple states. For instance, less than 0.5% of beneficiaries fall under the general category in states like Karnataka, Nagaland, and Mizoram.
• Farmers complain that the amount offered under this programme needs to be increased in order to cover the cost of farming inputs or the needs of the family for food.

The seventh installment of the PM KISAN programme, despite being a pan-Indian programme, was executed in West Bengal. West Bengal received its first installment in the ninth installment, which was published in May 2021. Only a few states have started putting similar initiatives to the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana into place to aid farmers. For instance, the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation plan of Odisha, the Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana of Madhya Pradesh, and the Rythu Bandhu plan of Telangana.

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