PM Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) – UPSC Prelims

It is a Central Sector scheme launched by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare in 2019.

Objective: To augment the income of the farmers by providing income support to all landholding farmers’ families across the country and to enable them to take care of expenses related to agriculture and allied activities as well as domestic needs.

Income Support: Under the Scheme an amount of Rs.6000/- per year is transferred in three 4-monthly instalments of Rs.2000/- directly into the bank accounts of the farmers subject to certain exclusion criteria relating to higher income status.

Coverage: The Scheme initially provided income support to all small and Marginal Farmers’ families across the country, holding cultivable land up to 2 hectares. Its ambit was later expanded to cover all farmer families in the country irrespective of the size of their land holdings.

Beneficiaries: The entire responsibility of identification of beneficiaries rests with the State / UT Governments.

Exclusions: Affluent farmers have been excluded from the scheme such as Income Tax payers in last assessment year, professionals like Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Chartered Accountants etc. and pensioners drawing at least Rs.10,000/- per month (excluding MTS/Class IV/Group D employees).

Special Provisions: Special provisions have also been made for the North-Eastern States where land ownership rights are community based, Forest Dwellers and Jharkhand which does not have updated land records and restrictions on transfer of land.

Each family will get Rs 5,000 separately in the kharif and rabi seasons irrespective of the amount of land.

The Rythu Bandhu scheme- Telangana.

In this scheme the government will provide Rs.4000 per acre per farmer per season to cover the input costs associated in farming like seeds, fertilizers, labour etc.