Centre to pay ₹2,000 to farmers in advance under PM-Kisan plan

Govt to provide extra rations to about 800 million poor people over the next three months

NEW DELHI: The government will make an advance payout of its universal cash-for-farmers programme, PM-Kisan, on April 1, 2 or 3, rather than in June, responding to the Covid-19.

The package announced by finance minister also said twothirds of Indians, about 800 million people, currently eligible for cheap grains under the National Food Security Act, would be given double their quota of foodgrain, up from 5kg per person.

Under PM-Kisan, the government provides ₹6000 a year to farmers with a valid enrolment, paid in three equal cash transfers of ₹2000 -- one every four months.

Nearly 80.5 million farmers will be paid about ₹16000 crore in all, an official requesting anonymity said, adding that the Centre is gearing up to pay advances of all federally-funded and partially-federally-funded cash and in-kind subsidies, such as old-age pensions and ration.

Small agribusiness owners will need access to emergency grants, analysts say. Additional money needs to be set aside for the rural unemployed too.

The cash transfer under PM-Kisan is an unconditional handout, meaning that it doesn’t require any proof of how recipients use it, but payments are usually timed with sowing seasons to help finance agricultural inputs.

The proposal for the advance payment of the PM-Kisan tranche, the first this financial year, from the agriculture ministry has been approved by the PM.

The cash-transfer takes the direct benefit transfer or DBT mode.

This means all 80.5 million farmers will simultaneously get ₹2000 each in their bank accounts.

There could still be challenges. Aadhaar-based enrolment and cash transfers, slow internet connections in many rural centres, and messy land records have slowed the PM-Kisan programme, the farm ministry told a parliamentary panel in January.

“This decision is obviously welcome. We also need income lifelines for all vulnerable sections,” said Manoj Kumar Panda of the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi University.