In the first Cabinet meeting, the government Friday decided to extend PM-KISAN scheme to all 14.5 crore farmers in the country costing Rs 87,000 crore a year and also announced over Rs 10,000 crore pension scheme for 5 crore farmers, thereby fulfilling the BJP’s poll promise.
Announcing the two key decisions, new Agriculture MinisterNarendra Singh Tomar said the Modi 2.0 government has announced the landmarkdecisions for the farming community in the first Cabinet meeting.
“The Union Cabinet has approved to extend the ambit ofthe scheme by including all land holding eligible farmer families under thescheme, subject to the prevalent exclusion criteria,” Tomar told reportersafter the meeting.
The Rs 75,000-crore Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Siddhi(PMKSS) was announced in the interim Budget under which the government decidedto provide Rs 6,000 per year (in three equal instalments) to an estimated 12.5crore small and marginal farmers holding land up to 2 hectares.
“Now, the revised scheme envisages to cover around 2crore more farmers increasing the coverage of the PM-KISAN to around 14.5 crorebeneficiaries,” the minister said.
So far, the first instalment has been given to only 3.11crore beneficiaries and second to 2.66 crore beneficiaries, as many states didnot provide the data of eligible farmers, Tomar said.
In another major decision, Tomar said the Cabinet alsoapproved the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Pension Yojana under which small and marginalfarmers will get a minimum fixed pension of Rs 3,000 per month on attaining theage of 60 years.
“In the initial phase, the government will coverminimum 5 crore small and marginal farmers in the first three years,” hesaid, adding that this would cost Rs 10,774.5 crore per annum to the exchequer.
This scheme is a voluntary and contributory pension schemefor a small and marginal farmers across the country, with the entry age of18-40 years, he said.
The Centre said it will match the contribution made by theeligible farmer in the pension fund.After the subscriber’s death, while receivingpension, the spouse of the beneficiary will be entitled to receive 50 per centof the pension amount, provided he/she is not already a beneficiary of thescheme. Farmers can use benefits under PM-KISAN scheme for the makingcontribution under the pension scheme.