Income support to farmer’s families through Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana (PM-Kisan Scheme)

What is Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) Yojana?

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana (known as PM-Kisan Yojana) is a Government of India initiated scheme that has become operational from December 2018. Under this scheme, all small and marginal farmer families having combined landholding or/and ownership holding of up to 2 hectares will be provided financial support of Rs. 6000/- per year. This sum is payable in three equal instalments of Rs. 2000 each in every four months.

What is Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) Yojana?

The PM-Kisan scheme aims to supplement the financial needs of all landholding farmers’ families in procuring various agricultural inputs to ensure proper crop health and appropriate yields, commensurate with the anticipated farm income as well as for domestic needs. Under the Scheme, an amount of Rs. 6000/- per year is released by the Central Government online directly into the bank accounts of the eligible farmers under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode. As per its objectives, this initiative aims to benefit approximately 125 million farmers in India, particularly those of marginal or small stature.

Prior to this new scheme, in the year 2018, the state government of Telangana had initiated the ‘Ryuthy Bandhu’ Scheme (Agriculture Investment Support Scheme). The State Government of Telangana disbursed a certain sum twice a year to strengthen a farmer’s investment in agriculture to some extent. Such an initiative was later widely recognised and appreciated for its direct benefits to farmers. On a similar ground, the Indian Government launched a Farmer’s Investment Support Scheme to offer financial assistance to farmers across the country. As a result, the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana came into effect on the 1st of December 2018.

What are the main features of the PM-Kisan scheme?

1. Financial support

Financial support is the primary feature of the scheme. Each eligible farmer family is entitled to get income support of Rs. 6000 per annum across the county in three equal instalments. The beneficiaries of the scheme can use this amount for numerous purposes. As per the guidelines, there are no guidelines that define any usage restrictions.

2. Funding

The PM Kisan Samman scheme is an Indian Government-sponsored scheme. Initially, it announced a reserve of Rs. 75000 crore a year to be spent on this scheme. The latest instalment of Rs. 17000 crore have been disbursed on 9th August 2020 to the eligible farmer’s bank accounts via Direct Benefit Transfer.

3. Identification responsibility

The respective State/UT governments are responsible for the identification of the beneficiaries. And only funding responsibility lies with the Government of India. The State/UT government shall identify which farmer families will be eligible to get the benefit from the scheme.

Who is eligible for the PM-Kisan scheme?

As per the operational guidelines, a landholder farmer’s family is defined as “a family comprising husband, wife and minor children who own cultivable land as per land records of the concerned State/UT. The eligibility criteria are as follow:

• Small and marginal farmers are eligible for the scheme.
• Farmer families that hold cultivable land can apply for the benefits of this plan.
• A beneficiary should be an Indian citizen.
• Farmers from both rural and urban regions can be enlisted under the scheme.

Who is excluded from the PM-Kisan scheme?

As per the operational guidelines, not all farmers can avail of financial assistance under the PM Kisan scheme. These categories of people have been mentioned below:

1. Any institutional landholder is ineligible for this initiative.

1. Farmer families with one or more of its members satisfying the following criteria shall not be eligible either:

• Individuals who hold or have held a constitutional post.
• Individuals who continue to serve or did serve as employees and/or officers in any government ministry, department or office and its field unit.
• Persons who served as an officer or employee in any Central or State Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) and Autonomous bodies under the Government.
• Regular employees of local governmental bodies.
• Present and former Ministers of both Central and State governments.
• Present and former members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
• Present and former members of State Legislative Assembly and State Legislative Councils.
• Any present or former Chairperson of District Panchayat.
• Present and Former Mayor of any Municipal Corporation.
• Any individual who filed income tax in the previous Assessment Year (AY) or his/her family is not eligible to receive Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana.
• A person and his/her family who has retired or superannuated and receives a pension of Rs.10,000 or more every month are excluded from this scheme. However, it does not apply if such a pensioner belongs to a multi-tasking staff, Class IV or Group D employees.
• Families with professionals like a doctor, engineer, chartered accountant, lawyer, and architect who are professionally involved in respective fields are also ineligible for this scheme.

How to Register for the PM Kisan Scheme?

Individuals who meet above-mentioned criteria can register themselves as a beneficiary in the following ways:

• Each State government is supposed to nominate PMKSNY nodal officers. Individuals can approach them to register for this scheme.
• Eligible farmers can also approach the local patwari/talathi (village revenue officer) to register.
• It is also possible to enrol in this scheme via the Common Service Centres (CSCs) by paying a fee.

An integrated platform i.e. PM-Kisan Portal is available in the country to assist in benefit transfer at URL (http://pmkisan.gov.in). An applicant can upload his/her details at a single web portal in a uniform structure.

Individuals can also enlist themselves online for the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana online through its dedicated portal. One would need to first visit PMKSNY’s official website and click on “New Farmer Registration” within the Farmer’s Corner section.

Farmers who self-register and enrol via a CSC can check their PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana status by clicking on the “Status of Self-registered/CSC farmers” option under Farmer’s Corner.

What are the Documents required to register for the scheme?

For the registration under the scheme following documents are required to submit/upload:

• Essential: State, District, Sub-District/Block, Village, Farmer Name, Type of Identity – Aadhaar Number and in case Aadhaar not available, Aadhaar enrollment number with any other ID proof like Voter ID etc, Gender, Category, IFSC Code, Bank Account Number. Farmer
• Optional: Father name, Address, Mobile Number, Date of Birth/Age, Farm-Size in Hectare, Survey Number, Khasra Number Optional attributes such as Mobile number can be utilized for SMS alerts. Other optional attributes may be used for the purpose of future requirements. However, these attributes are not essential for the purpose of the transfer of money.

Individuals will need to provide scanned copies of such documents if they are registering online.

How to Check the Beneficiary Status of the PM Kisan Scheme?

As mentioned previously, GOI disburses the minimum income support amount of Rs.6000 a year in three instalments. In case an enlisted farmer did not receive the amount as per schedule, they can check such PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana status online.

Here are the steps to do so –

Step 1 – Visit PMKSNY official website.

Step 2 – Click on “Beneficiary Status” under Farmer’s Corner.

Step 3 – Enter the Aadhaar number, registered mobile number, or account number.

Upon providing any of those aforementioned numbers, individuals can view the status of their receipt.

Individuals can also check whether they are included in their village’s Beneficiary List for this scheme online, as well, via its portal. For that, one needs to follow these steps:

Step 1 – Click on the tab marked list of beneficiaries under Farmer’s Corner.

Step 2 – Select State, District and Sub-district, Block and Village, and click on Get Report.

One can then view the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana list for a particular village. These are all that one needs to know about the scheme’s status. Individuals who haven’t yet enlisted can do so to receive the next instalment of Rs. 2000.