A day after taking oath as Prime Minister for the historic third term, Narendra Modi signed the first file on Monday, June 10, authorising the release of the 17th instalment of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi. PM Narendra Modi said the scheme will benefit 9.3 crore farmers and distribute around ₹20,000 crore. Modi took the charge of Prime Minister for the third term earlier on Monday.
“Ours is a government fully committed to Kisan Kalyan. It is, therefore, fitting that the first file signed on taking charge is related to farmer welfare. We want to keep working even more for the farmers and the agriculture sector in the times to come,” PM Narendra Modi said.
The decision signifies the government’s commitment to farmers’ welfare following the ruling National Democratic Alliance’s poll win, albeit with some setback, especially in parts of rural India. Follow Live Updates on Narendra Modi Cabinet
What is Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)?
- The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi or PM-KISAN, a central sector scheme, aims at providing financial assistance to cultivable landholding farmer families across the country, subject to certain exclusion criteria, to enable them to take care of expenses related to agriculture and allied activities as well as domestic needs.
- Under the scheme launched in February 2019, just ahead of the previous Lok Sabha elections, an amount of ₹6,000 is transferred annually in three equal installments of ₹2,000 directly into the Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts of the farmers.
- Under the PM-KISAN scheme, the respective state or UT government is responsible for identifying the beneficiaries and uploading their correct and verified data on the PM-KISAN portal.
- Over 2.42 lakh crore have already been disbursed to more than 11 crore beneficiary farmer families through various instalments.
- The scheme is applicable only for landholding farmers. The number of farmers whose land details are seeded on the PM-KISAN Portal is more than 9.53 crore.
Modi was sworn in as prime minister on Sunday for a record-equalling third term, heading a 72-member Union council of ministers.
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar appear to have got the maximum representation in Modi’s new council of ministers, while assembly poll-bound Maharashtra also found a significant presence.
Uttar Pradesh, which sends the most members, 80, to the Lok Sabha, has got nine ministerial berths, including one Cabinet, while Bihar has bagged four cabinet berths out of a total of eight ministers from the state.
Maharashtra has six ministerial berths, including two Cabinet ministers, while Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have five members each in the council of ministers that was sworn in on Sunday.
Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have three ministerial berths each.
Odisha, Assam, Jharkhand, Telangana, Punjab, West Bengal and Kerala have two ministerial berths in the council of ministers.
Rajnath Singh is the sole cabinet minister from Uttar Pradesh, while Gujarat’s four cabinet ministers include Prime Minister Modi, Amit Shah, Mansukh Mandaviya and C R Paatil.
Bihar’s four cabinet ministers include former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi from HAM(S), Rajiv Ranjan Singh ‘Lalan’ from JD(U), Giriraj Singh from BJP and Chirag Paswan from LJP (RV).
Madhya Pradesh has three cabinet berths — former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Virendra Kumar and Jyotiraditya Scindia, while Nitin Gadkari and Piyush Goyal represent Maharashtra in the cabinet.
(With inputs from agencies)
