THE PM-KISAN MODEL: NOT THE WAY FORWARD

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THE CONTEXT: The government has set a target of six months to ensure the full saturation of government’s welfare schemes. In this regard, the ruling government is undertaking a “saturation drive” to take the total number of farmer-beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) to about 8.75 crore, from the current 8.12 crore or so.

PRADHAN MANTRI KISAN SAMMAN NIDHI

• It is a Central Sector Scheme to provide income support to all landholding farmers families in the country to supplement their financial needs for procuring various inputs related to agriculture and allied activities.
• Under the Scheme, the entire financial liability towards transfer of benefit to targeted beneficiaries will be borne by Government of India.
• It receives allocation of more than 50% of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare’s budget to the PMKISAN scheme in 2022-23 and 2023-24.
• Under the PM-KISAN scheme, all landholding farmers’ families shall be provided the financial benefit of Rs.6000 per annum per family payable in three equal installments of Rs.2000 each, every four months.
• The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare is responsible for the effective implementation of the scheme.

Not eligible to get the benefits of the PM-Kisan scheme:

(a) All institutional Landholders

(b) Farmer families in which one or more of its members belong to following categories:-

• Former and present holders of constitutional posts
• Former and present ministers/ State Ministers and former/present Members of Lok sabha/ Rajya sabha/ state Legislative Assemblies/ State Legislative councils, former and present mayors of Municipal corporation, former and present Chairpersons of District Panchayats.
• All serving or retired officers and employees of Central/ State Government ministries /Offices/Departments and its field units Central or State PSEs and Attached offices /Autonomous institutions under Government as well as regular employees of the Local Bodies (Excluding Multi Tasking staff / Class
  lV/Group D employees).
• All superannuated/retired pensioners Rs.10,000/-or more (Excluding multi Tasking employees) All Persons who paid lncome Tax in last assessment year
• Professionals like Doctors, Engineers’ Lawyers, Chartered Accountants, and Architects registered with Professional bodies and carrying out profession by undertaking practices.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SCHEME:

• Income Support to farmers:Farmers receive much-needed financial support from the scheme of Rs. 6,000 annual direct income support. It helps them pay for their urgent needs and lessens their reliance on unofficial lending sources.
• Poverty Alleviation:The program helps to reduce poverty by giving farmers a steady income, especially in rural areas where agriculture is the only source of income.
• Rural Development:By directly supplying capital to the rural economy, boosting small enterprises, and generating jobs, the PM-Kisan initiative is essential to advancing rural development.
• Boosting Agricultural Productivity:With improved access to financial resources, farmers can invest in high-quality seeds, fertilizers, and irrigation facilities, leading to increased agricultural productivity and overall crop yield.
• Equal treatment: The scheme ensures that every eligible landowning farmer in the country gets covered under this flagship scheme. The scheme is a Direct Income Support (DIS) programme. Every farmer is paid equally irrespective of the crops they grow in whatever quantities and sells to whomsoever at any price. The payment does not depend on the inputs used, whether chemical fertilisers and insecticides or organic manure and biological control of pests and diseases.

ISSUES

• Insufficient reach: PM-KISAN is not reaching all farmer households as intended. There are various issues leading to exclusion of beneficiaries. This scheme is not pro-poor since recipients of PM-KISAN seemed to be farmers who are richer than the general rural population.
• Operational challenges: There are concerns at operational level with issues in land record reconciliation, digitization of land records, costs incurred in consolidation of land records. There are various challenges in identifying beneficiaries due to inadequate digitalization of land records.
• Inadequate transfers: The scheme does not provide a clear design of transfers and a framework for effective grievance redress. Also, market volatility tends to lower the effect of the cash transferred to families which has been insufficient to purchase products as the market price increased substantially.
• Issues in beneficiaries: PM KISAN tends to distribute cash transfer equally to both large and middle farmer which is not appropriate as needs are different. Also, PM-KISAN covers small and marginal farmers, landless agricultural labourers and tenant farmers are left in the lurch.

THE WAY FORWARD:

• Identification and Inclusion:It is still difficult to make sure that all farmers who are eligible for the program are found and enrolled. It is imperative to endeavor towards optimizing the beneficiary identification procedure and resolving any concerns pertaining to coverage gaps.
• Strengthening Last-Mile Delivery:To optimize the benefits of the PM-Kisan, funding must be disbursed to farmers in a timely and effective manner. There is a need to improve the delivery methods by coordinating with stakeholders and using technology to speed up the transfer of payments.
• Refinement of the scheme: There is a need for refinement of the scheme within this overall framework of the scheme. For instance, Direct Income Support can be given on a per-acre, rather than per-farmer, basis. For example, The Telangana government’s Rythu Bandhu scheme provides farmers up to Rs 12,000 per acre per year. Those farming larger holdings or growing more crops also incur higher expenditures. Such farmers, who are probably more dependent on income from agriculture than marginal holders, deserve extra support.
• Address the price fluctuation: Due to the volatile market and price fluctuations in different regions, it is important to index the cash transfers to local inflation.

THE CONCLUSION:

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) scheme is a transformative initiative aimed at providing direct income support to small and marginal farmers across the nation. There is a need of regular monitoring and evaluation of the scheme’s implementation to assess its effectiveness and identify areas for improvement.

PREVIOUS YEAR QUESTIONS

Q.1 The right to fair compensation and transparency land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement act, 2013 has come into effect from 1 January 2014. What implication would it have on industrialization and agriculture in India? (2014)

Q.2 Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is necessary for bringing the unbanked to the institutional finance fold. Do you agree with this for financial inclusion of the poor section of the Indian society? Give arguments to justify your opinion. (2016)

MAINS PRACTICE QUESTION

Q.1 The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) aims to ensure direct financial support to farmers to improve agricultural activities and overall livelihood. Examine.

SOURCE: https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/express-view-on-the-pm-kisan-model-not-the-way-forward-9088031/