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The Centre has made it mandatory for new applicants to obtain a farmer ID for enrolment into the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) to get benefits under the scheme.
The move by the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare to make farmer ID mandatory for registering new beneficiaries under the PM-Kisan is significant as it receives about 2 lakh new applications monthly. “This farmer ID guarantees that the applicant-farmer owns the land, and thus, the PM-KISAN registration process would be vastly simplified,” said a source, adding that it will ease the process for farmers to avail themselves of the benefits of the Central scheme.
According to sources, all new applicants for the PM-Kisan scheme will have to get registered with the Farmers’ Registry and provide their farmer ID in the application form. This system has come into force across 10 states for any new applicant with effect from January 1, 2025, said the sources.
The agriculture ministry has sent a communication to these 10 states, said the sources. In the remaining states, it will be made mandatory at a later date, they added.
Kisan Pehchaan Patra or farmer ID is an Aadhaar-like unique digital identity linked dynamically to the state’s land records with information like demographics, crops sown, and ownership details. The database created through the farmer ID will be known as Farmer’s Registry — one of the three registries under the Agri-Stack component of the Centre’s Digital Agriculture Mission for the creation of digital public infrastructure in the farm sector, which was approved by the Union Cabinet last year. The government has set a target of creating 6 crore farmer IDs by March end this year. Till January 7, one crore farmer IDs have been created.
The 10 states in which farmer ID has been made mandatory for registration of new beneficiaries under the PM-Kisan are Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. These 10 states account for about 84 per cent (9.25 crore) of 11 crore PM-Kisan beneficiaries.
Under the PM-Kisan scheme, eligible farmer families receive Rs 6,000 per annum in three equated instalments (Rs 2,000 in each instalment) through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) every four months. The scheme was launched on February 24, 2019, just before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. With 100 per cent funding from the Centre, the money is directly transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the 18th instalment of the PM-KISAN scheme on October 5, 2024, in Washim, Maharashtra. In the latest round of the instalment, the PM-Kisan amount was transferred to over 9.4 crore farmers across the country.
Recently, a Parliamentary panel has recommended doubling the yearly payouts under the PM-Kisan to Rs 12,000 per annum from the present Rs 6,000.
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