Prime Minister’s Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana is a universal basic income-type scheme aimed at farmers. This scheme has significantly helped individuals having poor access to credit and is relatively more dependent on agriculture.

Scroll through to gain a detailed insight into the various vital aspects of this scheme!

Launched by Prime Minister of India, Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana is a Central Sector Scheme extending income support to families of this nation’s landholding farmers.

Prime Minister’s Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana offers supplementary financial support to the farmers for procuring different inputs regarding agriculture, allied activities and their domestic requirements.

The PM Kisan Samman scheme offers income support to all families of landholding farmers who possess cultivable lands. Under PM Samman Kisan Nidhi Yojana, 100% funding is offered by the Indian Government. This scheme aims at supplementing the financial requirements of farmers to obtain agriculture inputs. This is done to ensure proper crop health and appropriate yield.

Highlights of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana -

Besides these facts, you must keep in mind the below-mentioned points related to the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme -

1. The scheme became operational from 1st December 2018
2. This scheme extends minimum income support of up to ₹6000 per year to all poor and marginal farmers. This amount is payable in three equal instalments of ₹2000 each every 4 months.
3. As per Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, a family consists of a husband, wife and minor children.
4. According to the guidelines of this scheme, the state government and UT administration identify the farmer families eligible for support.
5. The fund gets transferred directly to the beneficiaries bank accounts.
6. There are several Exclusion Categories for this scheme.

The agriculture sector forms a vital part of the Indian economy, and the farmers also form a key section of this society. However, the farming community has struggled regarding financial prosperity because of the socio-economic disparities prevalent between this nation’s rural and urban areas. This has plagued a significant portion of the Indian population since independence.

The state and central governments have launched several initiatives to address these economic, social, and economic concerns. These initiatives were meant for elevating such communities.

The Government of India launched Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Yojana in 2018 for helping these communities. The Indian Government released the sixth instalment under this scheme on 9th August 2020, reaching roughly 8.5 crore farmers.

According to this scheme’s objectives, this initiative aims to benefit roughly 125 million Indian farmers, specifically those of small or marginal stature.

Discussed below are some key features of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme:

Funding

Since Prime Minister's Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana is a farmer support scheme sponsored by the Indian government, the entirety of its funding comes from the GOI. Initially, it declared a reserve of ₹75000 crores per year for spending on this initiative.

In the latest instalment, it disbursed ₹17000 crores on August 9, 2020, to the bank accounts of this scheme’s beneficiaries through DBT or Direct Benefit Transfer.

Income Support

The primary feature of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Yojana is the minimum income support that it extends to farmers. As mentioned above, every eligible farmer family across the nation is entitled to receive ₹6000 annually. However, this amount does not get disbursed in one go. It is divided into three equal instalments and meted out 4 months apart.

Therefore, every farmer receives ₹2000 every four months. Beneficiaries can utilise this amount for many purposes as the guidelines of this scheme do not categorically define any usage restriction.

Identification Responsibility

While the government of India reserves the funding responsibility of this scheme, the identification of beneficiaries does not come under its purview. Instead, the State and Union Territory governments are responsible for the same.

These governments identify the farmer families that will benefit from this scheme. As already stated above, according to the definition of the Prime Minister's Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, a farmer family shall consist of a wife, husband, and minor child or children.

The eligibility criteria form a vital feature of the Prime Minister's Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana. Farmer families qualifying the below-mentioned criteria can enjoy the benefits of this scheme:

• Farmer families holding cultivable land can apply for availing of this plan’s benefits.
• The beneficiary must be a citizen of India.
• Small and marginal farmers

Besides these, farmers from both urban and rural areas can be enlisted under the Kisan Samman Yojana Nidhi scheme.

As mentioned earlier, there are many exclusion categories of Prime Minister's Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana. This implies not every farmer can avail monetary assistance under this scheme. 

Listed below are some categories of beneficiaries having a higher economic status that are not eligible to avail benefits of this scheme -

• Every institutional landholder.
• Farmer families belonging to one or more of the categories mentioned below -
• Present and former holders of constitutional posts
• Former and present ministers/state ministers
• Present former/present members of Rajya Sabha/State Legislative Assemblies/ Lok Sabha/ State Legislative Councils
• Former and present Mayors of Municipal Corporations
• Present and former Chairpersons of District Panchayats
• All retired or serving officers and employees of State/Central Government Ministries /Departments/Offices along with its field units State or Central PSEs and Attached Autonomous Institutions/ offices under Government and also regular employees of the Local Bodies (This excludes Multi-Tasking Staff /Group D/Class IV employees)
• Every retired/superannuated pensioners having a monthly pension of ₹10,000 or higher (This excludes Multi-Tasking Staff /Group D/Class IV employees of the above category)
• Every individual who has paid income tax in the last AY
• Professionals like engineers, architects, lawyers, doctors, and chartered accountants registered with professional bodies and carrying out their profession by undertaking practices.

Farmers can apply for Prime Minister's Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana in the ways mentioned below -

• Eligible farmers can visit the nearest CSCs or Common Service Centres to register under the PM Kisan Nidhi Samman Yojana upon paying the required fees
• They can apply for Pradhan Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana with the village Patwaris, revenue officials, or other designated agencies or officers by submitting necessary details
• Eligible farmers can visit the official web portal of Prime Minister's Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana and self-register through the Farmers Corner. Individuals can also check their registration status on this portal.

Looking for the steps to apply for PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana online?

Read through!

The step-by-step procedure to apply online for PM Kisan Samman Nidhi is given below -

Step 1: Visit the official web portal of Prime Minister's Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana. Navigate to the ‘Farmers Corner’ and click on ‘New Farmer Registration’.

Step 2: The next page for ‘New Farmer Registration Form’ will verify whether or not a farmer is already registered on this portal.

Step 3: A farmer must choose ‘Urban Farmer Registration’ or ‘Rural Farmer Registration’ for verification. They should then enter their Aadhaar Number, choose a state from the drop-down list, enter the given Captcha and click on ‘Search’.

Step 4: If a farmer’s details are not found on the database, the page will show a confirmation message for the same. Additionally, it will ask whether they are willing to register themselves or not. Here, the farmer must click on ‘Yes’.

Step 5: In the next registration form, farmers need to input all banking and personal details. After this, they must click on ‘Save’.

After completing the above procedure, follow the instructions given on the page and complete this registration process.

Individuals must submit the following documents to apply as a beneficiary for Prime Minister's Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana -

• Documents substantiating ownership of land
• Bank account details
• Aadhaar card
• Proof of citizenship

Individuals must provide scanned copies of all these documents if they opt to register for PM Kisan Samman Nidhi online.

The government publishes a list of the beneficiaries of Prime Minister's Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana on the official website. After registering on this portal, they can view their status. The farmers featured on the PM Kisan beneficiary list will enjoy this scheme’s benefits.

Given below is the process for checking the beneficiary status -

Step 1: Visit the official PM Kisan website.

Step 2: Navigate to ‘Farmers Corner’ and click ‘Beneficiary Status’. The ‘Beneficiary Status’ page will open.

Step 3: Input the Aadhaar number, mobile number or account number, Captcha, and click ‘Get Status’.

Upon clicking on ‘Get Status’, all transaction information of the beneficiary will be displayed. Individuals can view details of the date of the last instalment transferred to the beneficiaries account, the last instalment, and the bank account credited to.

There is no distinction between urban and rural cultivable land under Prime Minister’s Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana. Hence, individuals from all regions seeking to enjoy the benefits must keep in mind the above mentioned aspects.