After PM Modi signs first file of term 3, Congress says ‘one-third Pradhan Mantri has made a great show’

According to the officials, PM Modi said his government is “fully committed to Kisan Kalyan” and it is therefore fitting that the first file signed on taking charge is related to farmers’ welfare. “We want to keep working even more for the farmers and the agriculture sector in the times to come,” said PM Modi.

Under the PM-Kisan scheme, eligible farmer families receive Rs 6,000 per annum in three equated instalments (Rs 2,000 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. At the time of the first instalment in December-March 2018-19 (since the four-month cycle started in December 2018), the number of beneficiaries stood at 3.03 crore. The PM-Kisan is a Central Sector scheme with 100 per cent funding from the Centre. The fund is directly transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.

As of now, 16 instalments of the PM-Kisan have been released to farmers. The 16th instalment was transferred into the bank accounts of 9.09 crore farmers by PM Modi from Yavatmal in Maharashtra on February 29 this year. Of the 9.09 crore farmers who received the 16th instalment of PM-Kisan, a maximum of 2.03 crore were in Uttar Pradesh, followed by Maharashtra (89.66 lakh), Madhya Pradesh (79.93 lakh), Bihar (75.79 lakh), and Rajasthan (62.66 lakh).

After Modi signed the file, Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in-charge Communications, wrote a post in Hindi on X saying the Prime Minister “made a great show”.

“The headline management and PR campaign of the one-third Prime Minister has once again started from the first day of his third term. It is being trumpeted that the first file he signed after assuming office was to provide the 17th instalment of PM Kisan Nidhi. Aap chronology samajhiye (Understand the chronology). The 16th instalment of PM Kisan Nidhi was due in January 2024, but was delayed by a month for the PM’s electoral calculus. The 17th instalment of PM Kisan Nidhi was due in April/May 2024, but was delayed by the enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct,” read his post loosely translated from Hindi.

“So the one-third Prime Minister has not done anyone a great favour by signing this file: these are the legitimate rights of the farmers as per his government’s own policy. He has made it a habit to propagate normal and routine administrative decisions as a great gift to the people. Clearly, he still considers himself a divine power and not a biological one,” added the Congress leader.

Ramesh also suggested five things PM Modi could do if “he was genuinely concerned about farmer welfare”. Among them were “Sahi Daam, Karz Mukti Beema Bhugtan ka Seedha Transfer, Uchit Aayat-Niryaat Neeti, and GST-mukt Kheti”.