The Central Government on Wednesday (22nd April) has extended the relaxation given to few states from the mandatory requirement of Aadhaar seeding of data of beneficiaries under its ambitious Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana (PM-KISAN scheme) till March 2021.
The decision was taken during union cabinet’s meeting headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday and the states that have been given exemption include Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Assam and Meghalaya.
Under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana that was launched in 2019, an amount of Rs 6,000 per year is disbursed in three equal instalments directly into the bank accounts of over 14 crore farmer beneficiaries across India.
From 1st December 2019 onwards, the Government started releasing the amount to beneficiaries after the state government’s uploaded Aadhaar details on the PM-Kisan website. But, exemption was given to Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Assam and Meghalaya till 31st March 2020 considering less penetration of Aadhaar.
The government, in a statement told that the Cabinet on 22nd April 2020 approved the Agriculture Ministry's suggestion after it assessed that states of Meghalaya and Assam & union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh will need more time to complete the work of Aadhaar seeding of farmer beneficiaries.
It said, "...and the beneficiaries of these states & Union Territories may not be able to avail the benefits of PM-Kisan scheme w.e.f. 1st April, 2020 onwards, if the relaxation from compulsory requirement of Aadhaar seeding of data is not extended".
The Government said as on 8th April, it has given at least one instalment to as many as 27, 09,586 beneficiaries of PM-Kisan in Assam; 98,915 in Meghalaya & 10,01,668 beneficiaries in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.
Recently, the MS Swaminathan Foundation urged the government to increase the PM-Kisan amount to Rs. 15000 as the money is not sufficient in this crisis situation.
