First tranche of PM-Kisan scheme likely to cover 24 million farmers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to kick-start the direct income support scheme for farmers (PM-KISAN) on February 24 from Gorakhpur, by transferring the first installment of Rs 2,000 to at least 24 million farmers across the country. 

The number can go up further, as names of 5-6 million beneficiaries are getting ad­ded to the PM-KISAN portal. 

Officials said details of over 26 million farmers were uploaded by states on the official PM-KISAN website, of which 2 million have been rejected in the first round of verification because of wrong land records, non-linking of bank account, among other reasons. 

These farmers can apply afresh after correcting their inputs. Officials said about Rs 5,000 crore of the Rs 20,000 crore allocated for the scheme in 2018-19 is expected to be disbursed to farmers in the first few days itself. 

A majority of the 24 million farmers, whose verified details are available on the PM-KISAN website, are from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu. These states have also been proactive in uploading the list of beneficiaries. 

“Our estimate is that about 100 million farmers across the country should get the first installment of Rs 2,000 by March-end, as the number of beneficiaries is going up daily,” a senior agriculture ministry official told Business Standard.