AMN / NEW DELHI

The government has notified its decision to extend the benefit of six thousand rupees per year to eligible farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme. The decision will benefit all 14.5 crore farmers, irrespective of the size of their landholding, in the country.

Notifying the decision, the Union Agriculture Ministry has written to all state governments, asking them to identify beneficiaries subject to the existing exclusion factors.

The NDA government took this historic decision in the first meeting of Union Cabinet after assuming office last month. In its manifesto for 2019 general elections, the BJP had promised to extend the scheme to all farmers.

PM-KISAN scheme was announced in the interim budget, under which the government decided to provide 6,000 rupees per year to about 12.5 crore small and marginal farmers. Now, the revised scheme is expected to cover two crore more farmers with an estimated expenditure of over 87 thousand crore rupees in the current financial year.