PM Kisan Samman Nidhi: Over ₹109 cr disbursed among 5.49 lakh farmers in Prayagraj

Over 5.49 lakh marginal and small landholding farmers of Prayagraj have received financial assistance of ₹2000 each under the 17th instalment of the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi (PMKSN) released recently.

A total of over ₹109 crore has been disbursed among these farmers, said officials.

Prayagraj deputy director (agriculture) Satya Prakash Srivastava said that more than 6 lakh farmers are registered in Prayagraj district. “In the second week of June, the 17th installment of Kisan Samman Nidhi has been sent to 5.49 lakh ‘Annadaatas’ in the district. An amount of ₹109.40 crore has been sent directly to their accounts as Kisan Samman Nidhi,” he said.

Deputy Director (Agriculture) SP Srivastava says that the farmers of the district have received a total of 17 installments of Kisan Samman Nidhi till now. Efforts are now on to cover those eligible farmers who have been deprived of it due to any reason, he added.

Another relief to those receiving Kisan Samman Nidhi is that now they can also get the amount through the Postal Department. Interested farmers will get this amount through DBT.

Postmaster General of Varanasi and Prayagraj region KK Yadav said that for this, farmers will not need to go to any bank branch or ATM. The amount can be withdrawn from the mobile phone and Aadhaar linked account in any bank of the country through Aadhaar Enabled Payment System from home. The Postal Department will not charge any fee for this, he added.

Officials say that the number of marginal and small landholding farmers is the highest in the country. Due to limited income, many times these financially weak farmers had to face many financial difficulties in farming. The farmers were forced to take loans from the moneylenders and got in the debt trap. In view of these issues, the Government of India launched the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana on February 2, 2019.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 18, 2024 during his visit to Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency, for the first time after taking oath for the third consecutive term had released the 17th instalment of the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi, amounting to over ₹20,000 crore, for 92.6 million beneficiary farmers across the country.

PMKSN is a central sector scheme under which income support of ₹6,000 per year, or ₹2,000 in three equal instalments is provided to the families of all registered small land-holding farmers.

Agriculture department officials point out that till a few years ago, due to the increasing cost of farming, farmers were rapidly shunning the practice of farming. But after the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana got introduced, the situation changed. With the financial help provided under the scheme, the inclination of farmers towards farming has increased, they say.

Farmers who earlier used to take loans from moneylenders for fertilisers and seeds, now do not have to depend on moneylenders. Their work is done easily with the Kisan Samman Nidhi coming into their accounts. By getting Samman Nidhi, farmers buy fertilisers and seeds on time and have started planting crops early. Due to this, their crop production has started increasing and the income of the farmer has also greatly improved, the officials say.