70 lakh farmers miss out on PM-Kisan benefit as West Bengal, Delhi yet to sign up

NEW DELHI: If the Trinamool Congress (TMC)-led West Bengal and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi governments continue to skip the process of joining the Centre’s flagship ‘assured income support’ scheme, nearly 70 lakh small and marginal farmers may not be able to avail the benefit of Rs 2,000 each by March 31 out of total eligibility of Rs 6,000 each annually.
Though the number of potential beneficiaries is quite low in Delhi (16,000) as per the last agriculture census data, West Bengal will be a big loser where 69.69 lakh farmers (96% of the state’s total farmers) have small and marginal land holdings making them eligible for the scheme.

“Both West Bengal and Delhi have, so far, not joined the scheme. Though they still have time to share details of beneficiaries with the Centre, delay may only jeopardise the plan to cover all small and marginal farmers across the country by March 31,” said an official from agriculture ministry.

All states and UTs, barring West Bengal and Delhi, joined the scheme (called PM-Kisan) by sharing details (bank accounts, IFSC code and verification documents) of as many as four crore beneficiaries as on Friday. There are around 12 crore potential beneficiaries under the scheme in the country.

PM-Kisan was launched on February 24 by transferring first instalment of Rs 2,000 each directly into bank accounts of 1,01,06,880 farmers from 21 states and three UTs. Total Rs 2,021 crore was electronically disbursed on the day of the launch.

Though the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government had announced its own scheme of providing assured income (Rs 5,000 per acre annually) and other support to farmers, the state remained out of the PM-Kisan’s loop as on Friday despite being reminded by the Centre.

Under PM-Kisan, each small and marginal landholder farmer families who have cultivable land up to 2 hectares, subject to certain exclusions, will get Rs 6,000 per annum in three equal instalments every four months in a financial year.

Since the Centre made the scheme operational with effect from December 1, 2018, the first instalment is to be transferred to bank accounts of each of this category of farmers by March 31.

State-wise figures of such landholders show that over 50% of the total potential beneficiaries will collectively be from five states — Uttar Pradesh (2.21 crore), Bihar (1.59 crore), Maharashtra (1.18 crore), and Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh (over 75 lakh each).