WITH THE NUMBER of PM-Kisan beneficiaries dropping by over 20 per cent to 8.12 crore now from a peak of 10.47 crore in April-July 2022, the government has added back 34 lakh farmers under the “saturation drive” since the launch of the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra on November 15. The yatra, launched on November 15 — six months ahead of the elections to the Lok Sabha — will run till January 26, and is intended to ensure that all intended beneficiaries are covered under various flagship schemes of the government. In the latest round of PM-Kisan payments on November 15, as many as 8.12 crore farmers received the instalment of Rs 2,000. The 34 lakh farmers added now to the list of beneficiaries will be eligible to receive the next instalment of PM-Kisan before the end of 2023-24 financial year. Of the 34 lakh, Uttar Pradesh accounts for the most — 8.50 lakh, followed by Rajasthan 2.39 lakh, Manipur 2.27 lakh, Jharkhand 2.2 lakh, and Maharashtra 1.89 lakh. Sources in the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, which implements the scheme, said the total number of farmer beneficiaries is expected to top 8.75 crore by the end of the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra in January 2024. Efforts are on to bring eligible vulnerable farmers who have not availed the benefits of the scheme so far, a source said. The inclusion of over 34 lakh more farmers in the PM-Kisan is significant in view of a dwindling number of the scheme’s beneficiaries in the last financial year. It has even further declined to a 3-year’s low in August-November this year. According to details shared by then Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar in Lok Sabha earlier this month, the number of the PM-Kisan beneficiaries peaked to 10.47 crore in April-July 2022. It declined sharply in the following months— to 8.57 crore in August-November and 8.12 crore in December-March 2022-23. It marginally increased to 8.57 crore during April-July this year, but declined to 8.12 crore in August-November. The lowest ever was 8.09 crore in December-March 2019-20. With the drop in the number of beneficiaries, the annual disbursement of funds under the PM-Kisan too declined. It had peaked at Rs 67,121 crore in 2021-22, and dropped to Rs 58,258 crore in 2022-23. In this financial year till November 22, the government has disbursed Rs 38,660 crore. The final instalment for December-March) is due for the current financial year. During the just concluded winter session of Parliament, Tomar had acknowledged the decline in the annual disbursement of funds under PM-Kisan. “There was a slight decline in the FY 2022-23. The reason was the introduction of mandatory land seeding provision for the farmers and seeding of Aadhaar with their active bank account to ensure that the benefits are transferred directly to the intended beneficiaries’ accounts smoothly,” he told the Lok Sabha in a written reply to a question on December 5, 2023. Under PM-Kisan, eligible farmers’ families receive Rs 6,000 a year in three equal instalments through DBT every four months. The scheme was launched on February 24, 2019, just ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. At the time of first instalment (December-March 2018-19), the number of beneficiaries stood at 3.03 crore. It sharply rose in the following rounds reaching the peak of 10.47 crore in April-July 2022.
