Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi or PM-Kisan is a government scheme that was announced in the 2019-2020 Budget. In this scheme, a direct bank transfer of Rs 6000/year given to the 12 crore farmer population of India. The Rs 6000 meant for the farmer’s entire family for a full year. Hence, the total land ownership of the full family should be under 5 acres. The PM-Kisan Yojana scheme is eligible only for those farmers who own their land. Farmers who are working on rented land are not eligible for this scheme.
The total budget for PM-Kisan Yojana is Rs 75000 crore every year. The Rs 6000 suppose to give to the farmer’s family in three instalments of Rs 2000 each, over a full year. The deadline for the first instalment roll out was 31st March 2019. The Central Government began the direct transfers of the first instalment on 24th February 2019. As per the reports, 44% of beneficiaries were yet to receive their first instalment even ten days before the deadline.
The PM-Kisan Yojana scheme seems a lot similar to the Rythu Bandhu scheme from the Telangana Government. As per the Rythu Bandhu scheme, each farmer and not each family would receive an amount of Rs 8000 per acre. There is no cap on the no. of acres. This scheme has 57 lakh beneficiaries to date.
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Key Differences between PM-Kisan Yojana & Rythu Bandhu Scheme:
- PM-Kisan Yojana offers flat Rs 6000 to farmers holding up to 5 acres of land. While Rythu Bandhu offers Rs 8000 per acre and no limit on the no. of acres. Hence, a farmer with 10 acres of land is ineligible for PM-Kisan. But the same farmer can receive (10×8000=) Rs 80000 under Rythu Bandhu.
- PM-Kisan Yojana offers a benefit of Rs 6000 for each farmer’s family. Whereas, Rythu Bandhu offers Rs 8000 benefit for each individual farmer. Hence, if there are 5 different farmers in a family holding 10 acres of land each, then under Rythu Bandhu they all will receive Rs 80000 individually. But, under PM-Kisan they will just receive Rs 6000 for all 5 farmers combined.
Drawbacks of PM-Kisan Scheme:
- The rural poverty line stated to be Rs 32 per day. Under the PM-Kisan scheme, a farmer gets Rs 17 per day. Thus, the amount is not sufficient to satisfy even the most fundamental necessities of a person.
- Only those farmers receive a benefit of PM-Kisan who own their land. Farmers who rant the land for farming are not eligible for this scheme. But their landlords can claim for this scheme and receive the benefit, while not even reducing the land’s rent
- The Telangana government began their land records updating process on September 15, 2017, and even after a year, they believe that 20% of lands were still pending for verification. While the PM-Kisan scheme was announced on February 1, 2019, and the first installment was rolled out on 24th February 2019, with a deadline for 31st March 2019. It seems highly impossible that the Central Government could update land records for the whole country in less than a month. What complicates the situation more is that the money is given family-wise rather than acre wise. Since land records are held under the names of individuals rather entire families, it is difficult to identify the total land held by a family.
- As the deadline for 31st March is close by, it seems that the farmers in many non-BJP controlled States will miss out on their first Rs 2000 installment. According to reports, states such as Sikkim, Delhi, and West Bengal have not even submitted any beneficiary names for PM-Kisan. Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have sent the names but have not signed the fund transfer order. A totality of 4.92 crore farmers have been approving but only 2.74 crores have received the benefit currently.
The Story of Kumaraswamy:
Here, we would like to reference a story which got published in The Hindu about a farmer named Kumaraswamy. The story stated that –
Kumaraswamy had been a beneficiary of the Rythu Bandhu scheme, receiving ₹8,000 for the one acre he owns. However, he received no benefit for the five acres he leased.
Six years ago he started leasing more land, for cotton farming, hoping higher investment = higher profit. Higher profit= pay off loans, fund children education, etc
But three years of draught caused him higher investment and higher losses.
I need to pay for labour, tractor rental, 10 bags of fertilizer per acre, plus lease of ₹10,000 per acre per year. Every week, I spend ₹2,000-₹3,000 on pesticides because every week there is a new pest, even though Bt cotton was supposed to cut down on pesticides. I have no money to dig borewells.” He used the money from Rythu Bandhu to buy fertilizer, but it was merely a drop in an ocean of bills. He now has pending loans of more than ₹6 lakh, mostly taken from family and friends at an interest rate of 2% per month.
Read the full story here.
Thus, in the current scenario, it seems that with the absence of updated land records the PM-Kisan scheme will only benefit major landholders and not the small, vulnerable farmers, who most need this money. Also, there is no precise format for fund transfers or a structure for addressing grievances effectively.
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Read on other similar government schemes like – Ayushman Bharat Yojana (PMJAY) and Atal Pension Yojana.
