Govt to include farmers not part of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi yet: Shivraj

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan asked all state governments to cooperate with the Centre in identifying such farmers and ensuring their inclusion in the scheme

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The government is ready to provide Rs 6,000 annual cash benefit under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi to all eligible farmers who are not part of it yet, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

He asked all state governments to cooperate with the Centre in identifying such farmers and ensuring their inclusion in the scheme.

"If anyone is left behind, please help us include all of them under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. We will ensure that such farmers also get the past instalments," Chouhan said during the Question Hour.

All eligible beneficiaries must possess at least one piece of land, get eKYC done and register themselves at the PMKISAN portal, the minister said. He added that the fund is directly transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries in three equal instalments of Rs 2,000.

"We will ensure that all of these farmers get their dues without even a single day of delay," he said while asserting that the Narendra Modi government is committed to the welfare of the farmers.

Replying to a question related to Tamil Nadu, he said the central government does not discriminate against any state.

"(As a union minister) I have so far visited Tamil Nadu twice. Once for the work related to the agriculture ministry and the other for the works of the rural development ministry. In both occasions, neither the state agriculture minister nor the rural development minister came for the meeting," he said.

Chouhan said he was ready to visit Tamil Nadu again to discuss farmers' issues. "We are committed to serving the people of Tamil Nadu. We have deep respect for the people of Tamil Nadu," he said.

PM Kisan is a central sector scheme with 100 per cent funding from the Government of India.

Operational since December 1, 2018, an annual income support of Rs 6,000 in three equal instalments is provided to all land-holding farmer families under the scheme.

State governments and Union Territory administrations identify the farmer families that are eligible for the support as per scheme guidelines.

The last instalment of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi was disbursed on February 24 when a total of Rs 22,000 crore was given through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system to the bank accounts of 9.8 crore farmers, including 2.41 crore women farmers, across the country.