Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PIV-KISAN) is a new central government scheme to provide income support to all landholding farmers' families in the country, to supplement their financial needs for procuring various inputs related to agriculture and allied activities as well as domestic needs. Under the scheme, the entire financial liability towards transfer of benefits to targeted beneficiaries will be borne by the government of India.

The scheme would offer income assistance of Rs. 6,000 a year in three equal instalments to small and marginal farming families, with a mix of up to 2 hectares of land holding/ownership.

Here is a snapshot of the programme

• PM Kisan is a central government-funded, public sector scheme with 100% funding from the government.
• It became operational on 1.12.2018.
• The family definition for the scheme is husband, wife and minor children.
• The state government and the administration of the UT must recognize the farming families that are eligible for assistance according to the guidelines of the scheme.
• The money will be credited directly to applicant’s bank accounts.
• The scheme enlists various Exclusion Categories for the benefit.

What are the benefits payable under the PM-KISAN scheme?

Under the PM-KISAN scheme, a financial incentive of Rs.6000 per annum, per family, is payable in three equal instalments of Rs.2000 each, every four months, to all landholding farmers' families.

How does the scheme work?

• The State Government and the Union Territory’s administration is vested with the responsibility of identifying eligible farmers under the scheme.
• The authorities shall collect information pertaining to the beneficiaries’ Name, Age, Gender, Category(SC/ST), Aadhaar Number (in case Aadhaar Number has not been issued then Aadhaar Enrollment Number together with any other prescribed documents for purposes of the identification such as Driving Licence, Voters’ ID Card, NREGA Job Card, or any other identification documents issued by Central/State/UT Governments or their authorities, etc.), Bank Account Number and the Mobile Number of the beneficiaries.
• Application for the benefit can be submitted to the village Patwaris, Revenue Officers or other Appointed Officers / Agencies, qualified to process the applications.
• Farmers can also visit their closest Common Service Centers (CSCs) and pay the relevant fees for registration in the Program.
• Farmers can also do their self-registration in the PM KISAN Portal through the Farmers Corner.
• Upon verifying the eligibility, the benefit amount is directly credited to the bank account of the beneficiary.

What are the eligibility criteria to get the benefits under this scheme?

The following members are eligible to avail benefits under the scheme: 

• Families of farmers with agricultural land in their names can register under this scheme
• People in both urban and rural areas
• Families of small and marginalised farmers

The following individuals are not eligible for the scheme benefits:

• All Institutional Land holders.
• Farmer families in which one or more of its members belong to 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 carrying out profession by undertaking practices.

How do beneficiaries get the benefit under this scheme?

• The State / UT Governments have developed an exclusive PM-KISAN web-portal for uploading beneficiary data.
• Qualifying farmers can apply with the village Patwaris, revenue officers or other appointed officers / agencies, and send to them their required information.
• Nodal officers named at Block / Taluk / District level, by the State / UT Governments, process the data and pass it to State Nodal Officers (SNOs).
• State Nodal Officers finally authenticate the data and send it to the portal from time to time in batches.
• The applicant data submitted by the State Nodal Officers passes a multi-level inspection by the National Informatics Center (NlC), the Public Finance Management System (PFMS) and banks.
• Based on the verified / validated data, the SNOs sign and upload the fund 's Request for Transfer (RFT) containing the total number of beneficiaries in a particular batch and the total amount of funds to be transferred to that batch.
• The PFMS issues a Fund Transfer Order (FTO), which is based on the RFT.
• The Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare issues a sanction order based on the FTO for the sum specified in the FTO.
• The amount is transferred to the beneficiaries' bank accounts, maintained in destination banks, through the Department's approved bank and the State / UT Government's funding bank, using the PFMS database. The destination bank could be a Scheduled Bank, Post Office, Rural Bank, Cooperative Bank, or any other Financial Institution. The National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) manages and supervises the entire banking transaction.

FAQs on PM-KISAN Scheme

End Note

The PM-KISAN scheme was introduced with a view to augment the income of the Small and Marginal Farmers (SMFs). The scheme seeks to meet the financial needs of the SMFs to supply different inputs to ensure proper crop quality and sufficient yields at the end of each crop cycle, in accordance with the planned farm income. It will also prevent them from slipping into the clutches of moneylenders to cover these expenses and ensure their continuity in the farming activities.