The nineteenth instalment of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM KISAN) will be issued today, on February 24. Under this scheme, an income support of Rs 6,000 per annum is provided to all land-holding farmer families in three tranches of Rs 2,000 each. This central sector scheme, launched in February 2019, is 100 per cent funded by the government.
Ahead of the issuance of the funds that are directly transferred into the bank account of the beneficiaries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated all the farmers from across the country. He said in the six years since its inception, farmers have received Rs 3.5 lakh crore.
“In the last 10 years, due to our efforts, the agriculture sector in the country has developed rapidly. The financial help being provided to millions of our small farmers has increased their access to the market. Along with this, the cost of agriculture has reduced and their income has also increased,” he said.
ELIGIBILITY: EXCLUSION FROM THE SCHEME
There are certain exclusion criteria from the PM Kisan scheme. The following categories of beneficiaries with high economic status would not be eligible:
1. All institutional landholders
2. Farmer families that belong to one of more of the following categories:
3. Former and present holders of constitutional posts
4. Former and present ministers, state minister and former, present Members of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, state legislative assemblies, state legislative councils, former and present Mayors of Municipal Corporations, former and present chairpersons of district panchayats
5. 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 govt as well as regular employees of the local bodies, excluding multi-tasking staff, Class IV, Group D employees
6. All superannuated, retired pensioners whose monthly pension is Rs 10,000 or more, excluding multi-tasking staff, Class IV, Group D employees
7. All persons who paid income tax in the last assessment year
8. Professionals like doctors, engineers, lawyers, chartered accountants, and architects registered with professional bodies, and carrying out profession by undertaking practices
MANDATORY INFORMATION FOR PM-KISAN SCHEME
Applicants must submit the following details to enrol in the PM-KISAN scheme:
1. Name, age, gender and category (SC/ST)
2. Aadhaar number, except in cases where the number has not been issued. In such cases, alternate prescribed documents can be accepted such as Aadhaar enrolment number (if any), driving licence, voter ID, NREGA job card, or any other identification document issued by the state or centre
3. Bank account number and IFSC code
4. Mobile number, although not mandatory, it is advisable
PM-KISAN SCHEME: eKYC
eKYC process is mandatory for the PM-KISAN scheme. All registered farmers must complete their eKYC process.
Farmers can use either of the three modes of eKYC available to farmers: the OTP-based eKYC which is available on the portal and mobile app, the biometric-based eKYC, which is available at Common Service Centre and State Seva Kendras, and face-authentication-based eKYC, which is available on the mobile app.
PM KISAN: BENEFICIARY STATUS
Farmers can check their beneficiary status on the website. Go to the Beneficiary Status page, click on ‘Beneficiary Status’, enter your Aadhaar number or account number and get your data.