Prime Minister Narendra Modi will formally launch the Rs 75,000 crore PM-KISAN scheme at Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh on February 24 with the transfer of the first installment of Rs 2,000 each to about one crore beneficiaries, a senior agriculture ministry official said Thursday.
The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana (PM-KISAN) was announced in the interim Budget 2019-20, under which Rs 6,000 will be given in three installments to 12 crore small and marginal farmers holding cultivable land up to 2 hectare.
“The Prime Minister Narendra Modi will formally launch the scheme at a farmers’ rally at Gorakhpur on February 24. We expect the PM will push the button for 1 crore plus beneficiaries,” the official told PTI.
The data uploaded on the PM-KISAN portal till February 24, will be considered for transfer of the first installment at the launch event, the official said, and added that the second installment will be given from April 1.
Asked if farmers will get the first installment if their names could not get into the initial list of eligible beneficiaries, the official said, “the basic principle is that farmers will not be deprived of the benefit because of inefficiency or bottlenecks of the system.”
With regard to farmers in the north east as well as tribal farmers, the official said a solution has been worked out.
“In north eastern reason, a community head will give an undertaking how much land each farmer owns. Based on that we will transfer the amount to their banks,” the official said.
The government has also clarified that tribal farmers having right over agricultural land in forest areas will also get the benefit under the scheme, he added.
On collating beneficiaries data, the official said, “the field verification is going on. Different states are moving at a different pace. There are governance and political issues in some states for collating the data.”
However many states are in a position to start uploading the data on the PM-KISAN portal that will commence from Thursday, he added.
For instance, the Uttar Pradesh government has good digital data of farmers’ land records. After exclusion, about 2 crore small and marginal farmers families will benefit from the scheme in the state, the official said.
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