PM KISAN - GOVERNANCE

PM KISAN - GOVERNANCE

News: Over 1 lakh farmers voluntarily gave up their PM-Kisan benefits last year

 

What's in the news?

●       Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan lead the chart of 1.16 lakh farmers who have voluntarily given up the benefits of the annual Rs 6,000 Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) scheme across the country from June 2023 to May 2024, according to data available with the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare.

Key takeaways:

●       Sources said the Agriculture Ministry had introduced a module in the PM-Kisan mobile app and website last year which enables farmers to voluntarily exit the scheme.

●       Officials said the possible reasons for some farmers giving up the PM-Kisan benefits include - absentee landlords who may have decided against availing of the subsidy; land going to tax-paying descendants who are not eligible; change in the status of land-owners.

 

PM-KISAN:

●       The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme, launched by Modi in 2019, aims to provide income support to all landholder farmer families across the country with cultivable land, subject to specific exclusions.

●       It is a Central Sector Scheme financed by the Ministry of Agriculture.

 

Beneficiaries:

●       All landholding farmer families in the country are eligible under PM-KISAN, subject to certain exclusion criteria.

●       The entire responsibility of identifying the eligible farmer's families for benefit under the scheme is of the State/UT Governments.

 

Objectives:

  1. To provide income support to all eligible land-holding farmers and their families.
  2. The PM-KISAN scheme also aims to supplement the financial needs of the farmers in procuring various inputs to ensure proper crop health and appropriate yields, commensurate with the anticipated farm income.

 

Benefits:

●       Under the PM KISAN scheme, all landholding farmers families shall be provided the financial benefit of Rs.6000/- per annum per family. It will be paid in three equal installments of Rs.2000/- each, every four months.

 

List of Exclusion:

The following categories of farmers are not eligible to get the benefits of the PM-KISAN scheme:

  1. All institutional Land holders; and
  2. Farmer families in which one or more of its members belong to the following categories.

○       Former and present holders of constitutional posts

○       Former and present Ministers/ State Ministers and former/present Members of Lok Sabha/Rajya Sabha/ state Legislative Assemblies/ State Legislative councils, former and present mayors of Municipal corporations, former and present Chairpersons of District Panchayats.

○       All serving or retired officers and employees of Central/ State Government ministries /Offices/Departments and its field units Central or State PSEs and Attached offices /Autonomous institutions under Government as well as regular employees of the Local Bodies (Excluding Multi-Tasking Staff / Class IV/Group D employees)

○       All superannuated/retired pensioners Rs.10,000/-or more (Excluding multi-tasking employees)

○       All Persons who paid income Tax in the last assessment year

○       Professionals like Doctors, Engineers’ Lawyers, Chartered Accountants, and Architects registered with Professional bodies and carry out professions by undertaking the practice.