Lukewarm response to PM-KISAN in Mysuru

Mysuru: The ambitious Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) project of the Union government under which farmers with less than 2 hectares of farm land will get Rs 18,000 annually (Rs 6,000 once in four months) hasn’t got the expected response. According to agriculture department authorities, less than 50% of eligible farmers have submitted declarations seeking financial support.
Mysuru zilla panchayat Chief Executive Officer K Jyothi said that though the authorities are going to the farmers’ homes, many are not keen in submitting the required declaration. "Officers are under immense pressure. When we approach eligible farmers, they don’t show much interest. This has resulted in poor progress rate in declaration submission," she said.
As per Raitamitra data, in Mysuru over 4 lakh farmers are classified as small and marginal farmers and they’re all eligible for this scheme. "Field staff are visiting all villages. But farmers are not ready to submit documents and make a declaration," said an officer of the agriculture department.
"It’s a strange development. We’ve done awareness projects at the village level. But farmers are not attracted by the amount disbursed," he explained.
Farmers feel the scheme is not attractive. Badagalapura Nagendra, state president, Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, said farmers want a scientific price for produce and implementation of Swaminatham Committee Report, among other things. "Farmers are not interested in signing up for this scheme in which they get just Rs 18,000 every year. It’s a meagre amount and won’t serve any purpose," he said.
Kalleppa Achar, a farmer from Hosahundi, said farmers fear that once they join this scheme, they may become ineligible for any government scheme including the BPL card. "If the government is really interested, it must fix at least Rs 50,000 per year as support money. This amount is very less," he said.