Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)

In News 

• February 24th is the third anniversary of the launch of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme.

PM Kisan

• About: 
  • The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme is a Central Sector Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Scheme. 
• Launch: 
  • The scheme was launched on 24th of February 2019 (made effective from December 2018) to give income support to farmers.
• 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.
• Financing: 
  • Under the Scheme, an amount of six thousand rupees per year is transferred in three equal instalments of two thousand rupees directly into the bank accounts of the farmers subject to certain exclusion criteria relating to higher-income status. 
• 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.  
• Beneficiaries: 
  • The State Governments identify the beneficiaries and share the list with the Centre.
• Data:
  • Payment is done on the basis of Aadhaar seeded data of beneficiaries, except for the State/UTs of Assam, Meghalaya, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, which have been given exemption in this regard upto 31st March, 2021.
  • States first upload farmers’ data in the public finance management system, a platform that auto verifies bank accounts and authenticates Aadhaar details of beneficiaries, and then returns the data to states for physical signatures.

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.

Sources: News on Air