Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: 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 launched an ambitious scheme for farmers – the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) on February 2, 2019. It is one of the largest DBT schemes in the world.
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.
The scheme is a shining example of cooperative federalism as the states register and verify the eligibility of farmers while the Government at the Centre provides 100 per cent funding. 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 pc of small and marginal farmers being the beneficiaries.
Several milestones
In the last five years, the scheme has crossed many milestones and has received accolades from various organisations, including the World Bank.
A study conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) on farmers of Uttar Pradesh indicates that the benefits under the PM-KISAN reached the majority of farmers, and they received the full amount without any leakages.
With an objective to make the scheme more efficient, effective, and transparent, continuous improvements in a farmer-centric digital infrastructure have been made to ensure the benefits of the scheme reach all the farmers across the country without the involvement of any middleman.
The PM-KISAN portal has been integrated with the portals of UIDAI, PFMS, NPCI, and the Income Tax department. The states/ UTs and all other stakeholders are on-boarded on the PM-KISAN platform to provide quick services to the farmers.
Empowering farmers
Several technological interventions have been implemented to empower farmers with information and facilities at their fingertips. A dedicated web portal and a mobile application for the beneficiaries to know their present status is in operation.
While farmers can register their grievances on the PM-KISAN portal and take the help of a 24×7 call facility, the Government has also developed ‘Kisan e-Mitra’ (a voice-based AI Chatbot), which enables farmers to raise queries and get them resolved in their own language in real time.
To address the issue of farmers at the village level, village-level nodal Officers have been designated in all the villages across the country. Onboarding of the Indian Post Payments Bank (IPPB) with the scheme has facilitated the opening of Aadhaar bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
Saturating the scheme
Recently, as part of the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, the Government launched a nationwide campaign to saturate the PM KISAN scheme with the eligible farmers. During the campaign, over 90 lakh eligible farmers were included under the PM-KISAN scheme.
With the 16th instalment amount included, the scheme would have benefitted more than 11 crore eligible farmer families with Rs 3 lakh crore.
