PM Kisan payouts on May 14

The Union government will disburse the next instalment of PM Kisan, the federal cash transfer scheme for farmers, on May 14, a tranche that will see a few financial and political milestones.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi picked May 14 as the release date to coincide with Eid, an official with knowledge of the matter said. The last installment of Pm-kisan was paid on Christmas i.e. December 25, 2020.

In a turnaround, the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government, which resisted implementing the scheme so far, has joined the cash-transfer scheme for the first time, the official said. This was reported over the weekend.

In the upcoming tranche, about 90.5 million farmers have qualified to receive cash directly in their accounts, around ₹19,000 crore in all, the highest single tranche to be paid so far, according to the official cited above. The last installment on December 25 2020 was worth ₹18,000 crore, although total payouts for that period ended up being higher due to additional farmers being validated.

Under PM-KISAN, the government provides income support of ₹6000 a year to farmers with a valid enrolment, paid in three equal cash transfers of ₹2000. It is paid once every four months: December to March, April to July and August to November. It was launched on 24 February 2019, when the first instalment was paid. Although the government may choose any date between April and July to pay the financial year’s first installment, last year, most beneficiaries were paid by April 20. States faced considerable hurdles, such as manpower shortage, in compilation and uploading of farmers’ data for the due installment due to a crippling second wave of Covid-19 infections.

“The Centre gave states extra time to complete their part of the process such as opening and closing of lots (which refers to farmers’ data),” the official said.

The Trinamool Congress-led West Bengal government signed on to the scheme on May 4. Nearly 700,000 farmers from the state are set to be paid ₹2000 each as direct cash transfer for the first time. “The farmers’ data from West Bengal have been validated and sent back to the state for final signatures. Farmers there will receive cash payouts on May 14,” the official said.