The Government of India launched KUSUM Scheme or Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Surakshaevam Utthaan Mahabhiyan Yojana in March 2019. This scheme was announced by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), aiming for growth in income for Indian farmers.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan Yojana is a scheme to subsidise farmers to install solar irrigation pumps for cultivation.Each farmer will receive a 60% subsidy to set up tube wells and pump sets.They will also get 30% of the total cost as a loan from the Government.

The primary objective of the PM KUSUM Scheme is to make cutting-edge technology available to our farmers and provide sources for de-dieselised irrigation to the agricultural sector.The main objectives of this scheme are:

• The solar pumps assist our farmers in much more effective and eco-friendly irrigation as these are capable of generating safer energy.
• In addition, the pump sets comprise an energy power grid that generates more energy than diesel driven pumps. Farmers will be able to sell the extra power to our Government directly to enhance their income.

KUSUM Scheme comprises 3 components which have different features:

• Component A: Install a total of 10GV grid-connected stilt-mounted decentralised solar plants and other renewable energy-based power plants.Each plant is sized up to 500KW to 2MV.
• Component B: Install stand-alone solar pumps of up to 7.5HP individual capacity and worth 17.50 lakh.
• Component C: Provide financial support to solaris 10 lakh grid-connected agricultural pumps of 7.5HP of capacity each.

The eligible categories for KUSUM Scheme are:

• An individual farmer.
• A group of farmers.
• FPO or Farmer producer organisation.
• Panchayat.
• Co-operatives.
• Water User Associations.

This scheme provides the following benefits:

• The Indian Government initiated the construction of solar plants that can generate an aggregate of 28,250 MW of power.
• The Government will subsidise 60% and provide a loan of 30% of the total cost.This leads our farmers to bear only 10% of the total cost to install solar plants and solar pumps.
• As per KUSUM Scheme details, our Government will provide subsidies to install state-of-the-art solar pumps.They improve irrigation as they hold 720MV of capacity.
• This scheme offers our farmers an opportunity of selling the extra power generated by the plants directly to our Government.This ensures the scope of increase in the income of our farmers.
• A landholder in a rural area can get a stable source of income by utilising barren and uncultivated land for solar plant implementation for 25 years.
• The solar plants will be set up above a minimum height in cultivable lands. This way, our farmers will be able to continue with cultivation after installing the plants.
• KUSUM Scheme ensures increasing use of renewable energy helps to mitigate pollution in farms and opens a gateway to eco-friendly cultivation

Interested individuals can apply for KUSUM Scheme by following the procedures stated below -

• Step 1: Go to the official portal and click on the registration section.
• Step 2: Fill in the registration form that appears on your screen with all the required details.
• Step 3: Check the box of declaration and click on “submit”.
• Step 4: After registering, click on “login” for Solar Agricultural Pumpset Subsidy Scheme 2021.
• Step 5: Provide all necessary information accurately in the online application form, attach all the supporting documents, and submit.

• Aadhar card
• A land document including KhasraKhatauni
• A bank account passbook
• A declaration form
• Mobile number
• Passport size photo

After a successful online application for KUSUM Scheme, farmers must deposit 10% of the total cost to set up a solar pump to the supplier sent by the department.The solar pump set will be empowered after the subsidy amount gets sanctioned, which generally takes 90 to 10 days.