New Delhi: Over 8 lakh small and marginal farmers in the state have reportedly received the first lot of Rs 2000 under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) being launched by the Union government to provide financial assistance to the farmers.
According to a statement from the Agriculture Ministry, the first installment for the first 4-month period, financial benefits of Rs 2,000 were released to about 1.01 crore farmers across the country in the first trench entailing fund release of Rs. 2,021 crore.
The Centre has released Rs 161.40 crore to benefit 8,07,000 farmers in the state.
Notably, the Union government had launched the PM-KISAN scheme with a view to augment the income of farmers by providing income support to all small and marginal landholder farmers’ families across the country. The scheme aims to provide a payment of Rs 6,000/- per year for the farmers’ families who hold cultivable land upto 2 hectares, subject to certain exclusions. The entire amount of Rs 6,000 would be released in three quarterly installments of Rs 2,000 over the year.
The scheme came into effect from December 1 last year. The amount is being released by the central government directly into the bank accounts of eligible farmers under Direct Benefit Transfer mode for a period of 4 months ending March 31.