PM Kisan Scheme Extended To All Farmers; 14.5 Crore Farmers To Benefit

In his first Cabinet meeting as the Prime Minister of India for the second consecutive time, Narendra Modi approved the extension of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Yojana to "all" land holding eligible farmer families, subject to the prevalent exclusion criteria.

The government in its statement said that it estimates to cover around 2 crore more farmers, increasing the coverage of PM-KISAN to around 14.5 crore beneficiaries, with an estimated expenditure by Central Government of Rs 87,217.50 crores for year 2019-20.

Also Read: PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme Eligibility And Requirements

The Cabinet decision fulfills one of the promises made by PM Modi and the BJP during their pre-poll campaigning for the 2019 parliamentary elections.

The statement released by the government also said that certain operational issues like lack of updated land records in Jharkhand and lack of Aadhaar penetration in states of Assam, Meghalaya and Jammu & Kashmir have also been resolved.

The PM Kisan Samman Siddhi (PMKSS) was announced on 1 February at the presentation of the Interim Budget 2019, wherein it was decided to provide Rs 6,000 per year aid (in three equal installments) to an estimated 12.5 crore small and marginal farmers holding land up to 2 hectares.

The amount is being released in three 4-monthly installments of Rs 2000 each into Aadhaar-linked bank accounts of the beneficiaries through the Central Government's Direct Benefit Transfer mode.

So far, the first installment was received by 3.11 crore beneficiaries and second installment to 2.66 crore beneficiaries, according to a government statement.