Opinion A five-year report card for PM-Kisan

Under the scheme, eligible farmer families are provided a benefit of Rs 6000 per year in three equal instalments of Rs 2000 each, every four months. The benefit is transferred directly to the bank accounts of eligible beneficiaries through the DBT mode, using modern digital technology. The scheme is a shining example of cooperative federalism as the states register and verify the eligibility of farmers while the GoI provides 100 per cent funding for the scheme.

Since the launch of this path-breaking scheme, there has been no looking back. In the last five years, it has crossed many milestones and has received accolades from various organisations, including the World Bank, for its sheer vision, scale, and the seamless transfer of funds directly to the accounts of eligible farmers. A study conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) on farmers of Uttar Pradesh indicates that the benefits under the PM-Kisan scheme reached the majority of farmers, and they received the full amount without any leakages. As per the same study, the farmers receiving cash transfers under PM-Kisan were more likely to invest in buying agricultural equipment, seeds, fertilisers, and pesticides.

The inclusive nature of the scheme is reflected in the fact that at least one out of four beneficiaries is a woman farmer, besides more than 85 per cent of small and marginal farmers being the beneficiaries under the scheme.

To make the scheme more efficient, effective, and transparent, continuous improvements in a farmer-centric digital infrastructure have been made to ensure the benefits of the scheme reach all the farmers across the country without any middleman involvement. The PM-Kisan portal was integrated with the portals of the Unique Identification Authority of India, the Public Financial Management System, the National Payments Corporation of India, and the Income Tax Department. The states/ UTs and all other stakeholders were on-boarded on the PM-Kisan platform to provide quick services to the farmers.

Several technological interventions have been implemented to empower farmers with information and facilities at their fingertips. Some of the significant farmer-centric initiatives are as follows.

There is a dedicated web portal and a mobile application for the beneficiaries to know their present status. The “Know Your Status” (KYS) module allows one to view all the mandatory requirements such as the status of land seeding, Aadhaar linking with bank accounts and e-KYC in a single click. A mobile application with the facial authentication-based e-KYC feature for ease of doing eKYC across the country has also been made available.

While farmers can register their grievances on the PM-Kisan portal and take the help of a 24×7 call facility for an effective and timely resolution, the Government of India has also developed ‘Kisan e-Mitra’ (a voice-based AI Chatbot), which enables farmers to raise queries and get them resolved in their own language in real-time. The Kisan-eMitra is now available in 10 languages, i.e., English, Hindi, Odia, Tamil, Bangla, Malayalam, Gujarati, Punjabi, Telugu and Marathi.

There has also been an onboarding of over 4 lakh Common Service Centres across the country to provide services of the scheme at farmers’ doorsteps. Onboarding of the Indian Post Payments Bank (IPPB) with the PM-Kisan scheme has facilitated the opening of Aadhaar bank accounts of the beneficiaries at their convenience and doorsteps without any hassle.

To address the issue of farmers at the village level, nodal officers have been designated in all villages across the country. Recently, as part of the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, the Government of India launched a nationwide campaign to saturate the PM-Kisan scheme with eligible farmers. During the campaign, over 90 lakh eligible farmers, including 6 lakh Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups’ (PVTG) farmers, were included under the PM-Kisan scheme.

A continuous impact assessment for further improvement in the scheme is also done by taking feedback through the Kisan Call Centre and field surveys.

The 16th instalment of the PM-Kisan scheme, amounting to Rs 21,000 crores was released to more than 9 crore farmers on February 28 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Yavatmal, Maharashtra. With the 16th instalment amount included, the scheme has benefitted more than 11 crore eligible farmer families with Rs 3 lakh crore transferred directly to their accounts in the last five years. Of this, Rs 1.75 lakh crore have been transferred to eligible farmers during the Covid-19 period alone, when they needed direct cash benefits the most.

It is but obvious to reflect on the stupendous impact this scheme has had on the lives of the farmers in the last five years by directly benefiting them in times of need.

The writer is Additional Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare