PM-KISAN was launched on February 24, 2019, to provide financial assistance to the farmers. Under this scheme, the financial benefit of Rs 6000 yearly in three equal installments of Rs. 2000 is transferred into the bank accounts of farmers’ families across the country through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode.
The scheme was initially launched for small and marginal farmers with upto 2 hectares but later scope of the scheme was extended to cover all the farmers with effect from 1 June 2019.
Developments & changes made in PM Kisan
Since, the inception of PM Kisan, there have been multiple set of technological & process advancements done in the scheme so that maximum number of beneficiaries can avail the benefit of the same in an efficient manner.
As of 22 February 2022, benefits under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana have been provided to over 11.78 crore farmers, and funds worth Rs 1.82 lakh crore in various installments have been released to the eligible beneficiaries of this scheme across the country. Out of which Rs. 1.29 lakh crore has been released during the current Covid 19 pandemic period.
PM Kisan Self-registration process
Process of Self-registration of beneficiaries has been made simple and easy through mobile app, PM KISAN official website and walk-ins through Common Service Centers (CSC) in order to give the maximum benefit to the farmers.
Enhanced Recovery Mechanism
In case of ineligible beneficiary, the recovery mechanism has been made very smooth & transparent which does not require Demand Draft or physical cheque to be submitted by the state. The process includes auto-transfer from the state nodal department’s account to the Centre’s account which made this process very efficient and less time-consuming.
Grievance Redressal/ Helpdesk
In order to solve farmers' issues and problems, a holistic grievance redressal mechanism has been made which involves setting up a central Project Management Unit of PM Kisan Yojana at the Centre which does the overall coordination between all the stakeholders to streamline the processes. A centralized helpdesk has also been developed in order to support the beneficiaries regarding any issues faced during the registration process etc. Through this initiative around 11.34 lakh grievances have been received from farmers and over 10.92 lakh grievances have been redressed by the concerned state authorities.
Demographic Aadhar authentication
To make the entire process transparent & authenticated, Aadhar validation has been made mandatory. As of now, 11.20 crores beneficiaries’ data is Aadhar seeded in the scheme.
Income Tax verification
The beneficiary database in PM Kisan is being regularly validated with the income tax payee database in order to have an audited & authenticated user base.
