The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna is a government initiative in India that provides farmers up to ₹6,000 per year as minimum income support. The announcement of this scheme was made during the 2019 Interim Union Budget of India. Under this initiative, an amount of ₹6,000 is disbursed to all farmers in three installments over the course of the year. To date, crores of farmers have benefited from the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna. The objective of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna is to offer income support to farmer families throughout the country.

Check the following article on PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna to know more about this scheme. If we analyze the UPSC Civil Service Exam, it is clear that UPSC regularly asks questions about government schemes in GS Paper 2. 

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What is PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna (PMKSNY)?

The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna (PMKSNY) is also known as PM Kisan Yojna. It is a government of India scheme. It provides income support to all landholding farmer families in the country, with cultivable land up to 2 hectares. The scheme was launched in December 2018.

Overview of PMKSNY

History of PMKSNY

The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna was launched by the Government of India on December 1, 2018. The scheme provides income support of ₹6,000 per year to all landholding farmer families in the country, with cultivable land up to 2 hectares.

The scheme was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his 2018-2019 interim budget speech. The scheme was initially proposed to benefit 12 crore farmer families. However, it was later extended to cover all 25 crore farmer families in the country.

The scheme is implemented by the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. The scheme is funded by the central government.

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Objectives Of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna

The objectives of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna are as follows,

• To provide basic financial support to all the small and marginal land-holding farmer families across the country, provided it is cultivable land.
• To supplement the financial needs of vulnerable farmers in procuring various agricultural inputs to ensure proper crop health and appropriate yields and procure inputs related to agricultural allied activities. 
• To boost rural consumption in the country.
• To supplement the efforts taken by the Government of India to double farmers' income by 2022.

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Features Of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna

• Income Support: The key feature of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna is the provision of minimum income support to farmers. 
  • Eligible farmer families receive Rs.6000 annually, distributed in three equal installments every four months.
• Usage Flexibility: There are no specific restrictions on how beneficiaries can utilize the amount received under the scheme. 
  • They are free to use it for various purposes as per their needs.
• Funding: The entire funding for the PMKSNY scheme comes from the Government of India. 
  • Initially, a reserve of Rs.75000 crore per year was allocated for this initiative, with direct transfers made to beneficiaries' bank accounts via DBT.
• Identification Responsibility: The identification of beneficiaries is the responsibility of the State and Union Territory governments, while the funding responsibility lies with the Government of India. 
  • These governments determine which farmer families qualify for the scheme, with the definition specifying that a family consists of a husband, wife, and minor child or children.

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Eligibility of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna

All the small and marginal farmer families who hold cultivable land are eligible for PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna, regardless of the size of the land.

Who are Not Eligible to Avail PMKSNY?

The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna (PMKSNY) has some exclusion categories, which means that not all farmers are eligible for monetary assistance under the scheme.

The following categories of beneficiaries are not eligible for the PMKSNY:

• Institutional landholders
• Farmer families belonging to one or more of the following categories:
• Present and former holders of constitutional posts
• Former and present ministers/state ministers
• Present and former members of Rajya Sabha/State Legislative Assemblies/Lok Sabha/State Legislative Councils
• Former and present Mayors of Municipal Corporations
• Present and former Chairpersons of District Panchayats
• All retired or serving officers and employees of State/Central Government Ministries/Departments/Offices along with their field units, State or Central PSEs and Attached Autonomous Institutions/offices under Government, and also regular employees of the Local Bodies (excluding Multi-Tasking Staff/Group D/Class IV employees)
• Every retired/superannuated pensioner having a monthly pension of ₹10,000 or higher (excluding Multi-Tasking Staff/Group D/Class IV employees of the above category)
• Every individual who has paid income tax in the last AY
• Professionals like engineers, architects, lawyers, doctors, and chartered accountants registered with professional bodies carry out their profession by undertaking practices.

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Benefits of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna

Here are the benefits of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna (PM Kisan Yojna):

• The PM Kisan Yojna provides income support of ₹6,000 per year to all eligible farmer families. This amount is paid in three installments of ₹2,000 each every four months.
• The PM Kisan Yojna aims to supplement the financial needs of eligible farmers by procuring inputs related to agriculture. This can help farmers to reduce their debt burden and improve their financial well-being.
• The PM Kisan Yojna can help reduce poverty among farmers. It provides them with a regular source of income. It thus helps farmers to meet their basic needs and improve their standard of living.
• The PM Kisan Yojna can help boost economic growth by increasing the purchasing power of farmers. This can lead to increased demand for goods and services. This can benefit other sectors of the economy as well.

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Issues With PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna

• The PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme excludes landless agricultural labourers and tenant farmers. 
• The scheme needs a clearer structure for the grievance redressal mechanism.
• In several states, many eligible farmers must be included in the scheme. For example, in states such as Karnataka, Nagaland, and Mizoram, the beneficiaries belonging to the general category are less than 0.5%
• Farmers criticize that the amount provided under this scheme must be increased to meet the input cost for farming or the family's food needs.

Though the PM KISAN scheme was a pan-India scheme, it was implemented in West Bengal in the seventh installment. It was in the eighth installment, released in May 2021; West Bengal got its first installment. Only some states have begun implementing programmes similar to PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna to support the farmers. For example, the Rythu Bandhu Scheme of Telangana, the Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojna of Madhya Pradesh, and the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation scheme of Odisha. 

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PM KISAN App

• The National Informatics Centre, in collaboration with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, developed the PM KISAN mobile application.
• It was launched on the 1st anniversary of the PM KISAN scheme.
• Using this app, the farmers can track the status of their applications, update or make corrections to their Aadhar cards, and they can check the history of credits to their bank accounts.

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