PM-KISAN

About: 

• Scheme Objective: To provide an assured income support to small and marginal farmers. 
  
  
• Salient Features of the scheme: 
  • Under this programme, vulnerable landholding farmer families, having cultivable land upto 2 hectares, will be provided direct income support at the rate of Rs 6,000 per year. 
    
    
  • This income support will be transferred directly into the bank accounts of beneficiary farmers, in three equal instalments of Rs 2,000 each. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Implementation Period: The programme would be made effective from 1st December 2018 and the first instalment for the period upto 31st March 2019 would be paid during this year itself. 
  
  
• Funding: This programme will be funded by Government of India and will entail an annual expenditure of Rs 75,000 crore. 
  
  

Need of the scheme: 

• The agriculture sector employs over 50% of the workforce either directly or indirectly, and remains the main source of livelihood for over 70% of rural households. 
  
  
• The droughts of 2014 and 2015, ad-hoc export and import policies, lack of infrastructure, and uncertainty in agricultural markets have adversely affected agricultural productivity and stability of farm incomes. 
  
  
• In this background, PM-KISAN is an ambitious scheme that has the potential to deliver significant welfare outcomes. 
  
  
• It aims at boosting rural consumption and helping poor farmers recover from distress. Around 12 crore small and marginal farmer families are expected to benefit from this.