More than 10 crore farmers got Rs 2,000 in their bank accounts in the final instalment of the PM-KISAN this financial year. This was a significant uptick after close to 90 lakh farmers were added as new beneficiaries under the scheme during the central government’s ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’ that began on November 15 last year.
Confirming the big jump in numbers on Thursday, the Centre said Prime Minister Narendra Modi directly transferred Rs 21,000 crore from Maharashtra on Wednesday (February 28), which means over 10 crore farmers got the money. Data shows only 9.07 crore farmers had received the last instalment of the PM-KISAN for August-November 2023.
“Recently, as part of the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, undertaken to ensure saturation of the government’s welfare schemes across more than 2.60 lakh gram panchayats, 90 lakh eligible farmers were added to the PM KISAN scheme,” the government said in a statement on Thursday.
The yatra began on November 15, 2023, and the prime minister said it will continue beyond February. The PM-KISAN scheme, which began in 2019, has been cited to highlight the government’s pro-farmer measures and steps it has taken for their financial benefit, in wake of renewed protests by Punjab’s farmers over the MSP issue.
The government said the total payout under the scheme has crossed Rs 3 lakh crore since inception. Under the scheme, eligible farmer families are provided a benefit of Rs 6,000 per year in three equal instalments of Rs 2,000, every four months. The benefit is transferred to the bank accounts of beneficiaries through direct benefit transfer.
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