Centre to meet state officials to discuss PM-KISAN scheme on Thursday

With a view to enrolling nearly 90 million farmers under the expanded PM-KISAN scheme by July, agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar has called a high-level meeting with state agriculture ministers on Thursday.

So far, senior officials said database of almost 57.6 million eligible farmers is available with the Centre of which a sizeable chunk has received the first installment of Rs 2,000 under PM-KISAN and have become eligible for the second tranche.

States would also be convinced to reconcile their PM-KISAN database with the Centre’s to prevent duplication and deletion of eligible beneficiaries. 

“For example, in case of Punjab, as per the last agriculture census, around 37.7 million farmers would have been eligible for the scheme, but the state has uploaded details of over 16 lakh farmers in the PM-KISAN portal which is even more than the total number of cultivators in the state,” a senior official said.

West Bengal, which hasn’t yet participated in the scheme, has not confirmed its attendance.

Apart from PM-KISAN, the Centre’s ambitious programme to provide pension to almost 80 million eligible farmers in the age group of 18-40 years will also be discussed with the states along with expanding the ambit of Kisan Credit Cards, the officials said.