Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)

In News

Recently, the PM of India released the 11th instalment of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme.

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• He was speaking at a “Garib Kalyan Sammelan” at Shimla’s Ridge Maidan, where he interacted with a group of beneficiaries of Central schemes from across the country

• Government released Rs 21,000 crore in bank accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme to 10 crore families. Each beneficiary would get ?2000 each in this instalment.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme

• About: 
  • PM Kisan is a Central Sector scheme with 100% funding from Government of India.
  • It has become operational from 1.12.2018.
  • Under the scheme an income support of 6,000/- per year in three equal instalments will be provided to all land holding farmer families.
  • Definition of family for the scheme is husband, wife and minor children.
  • State Government and UT administration will identify the farmer families which are eligible for support as per scheme guidelines.
  • The fund will be directly transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
• Purpose:
  • The scheme is meant to provide income support to all landholding farmer’s families across the country and enable them to meet expenses related to agriculture as well as domestic needs.
• Changes with time:
  • The Scheme initially provided income support to all Small and Marginal Farmers’ families having cultivable land up to two hectares, but later it was expanded to cover all farmer families irrespective of the size of their landholdings. 
  • So far, over 1.80 lakh crore rupees have been transferred directly into the bank accounts of the farmer families under the PM -KISAN Scheme.
  • This is the first time that farmers in West Bengal will also receive the cash transfer as the State government has not joined PM-KISAN yet.  
• There are various Exclusion Categories for the scheme:
  • All Institutional Land holders.
  • Farmer families which belong to one or more of the following categories:.
    • Former and present holders of constitutional posts
    • Former and present Ministers/ State Ministers and former/present Members of LokSabha/ RajyaSabha/ State Legislative Assemblies/ State Legislative Councils,former and present Mayors of Municipal Corporations, former and present Chairpersons of District Panchayats.
    • All serving or retired officers and employees of Central/ State Government Ministries /Offices/Departments and its field units Central or State PSEs and Attached offices /Autonomous Institutions under Government as well as regular employees of the Local Bodies(Excluding Multi Tasking Staff /Class IV/Group D employees)
    • All superannuated/retired pensioners whose monthly pension is Rs.10,000/-or more(Excluding Multi Tasking Staff / Class IV/Group D employees) of above category
    • All Persons who paid Income Tax in last assessment year
    • Professionals like Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Chartered Accountants, and Architects registered with Professional bodies and carried out their profession by undertaking practices.

Significance

• Cash Benefits: 
  • Under the scheme, almost 1.75 lakh crore rupees have been given to 11 crore farmers.
  • In this scheme, Samman Rashi of over Rs. 1.15 lakh crores has been transferred to farmer families so far.
• Greater Coverage: 
  • The scheme covers all farmer families in the country irrespective of the size of their land holdings.
  • It enables farmers to take care of expenses related to agriculture and allied activities as well as domestic needs.
• Reforms: 
  • Many new systems were launched spanning from seed to market and a lot of reforms were brought in the old systems in the agriculture sector. 

Challenges

• Inadequate financial support: The impact of PM-KISAN can only be realised through financial support that provides farmers with adequate purchasing power to meet their daily basic necessities. Also, the cash transfer is not linked to the size of the farmer’s land.
• Not reaching all farmers: PM-KISAN is not pro-poor since recipients of the scheme seemed to be better off than the general rural population even before the lockdown. 
• Exclusion of Landless farmers: The scheme excludes even poor rural households that do not own land. 
• Implementation issues: PM-KISAN is an ambitious scheme that has the potential to deliver significant welfare outcomes but the top-down approach of the government ignores governance constraints.
• Structural issue: If the budgetary allocations shift decisively in favour of cash transfers, they will be a cause for great concern for other long-term budgetary commitments in agricultural markets and areas of infrastructure such as irrigation.

Way Ahead

• There is a strong case to include landless tenants and other poor families.
• An alternative bottom-up strategy and well-planned implementation mechanism would allow bottlenecks to be identified and rectified at the local level

Source: TH