He Who Dares, Wins?

PM-Kisan, unfurled shortly before India goes to polls, reaches out to 82 per cent of the farming community. But does the small farmer really see it as the proverbial manna from heaven? BW Businessworld’s Prabodh Krishna investigates

- Prabodh Krishna

IT IS MUCH EASIER TO PUT EXISTING RESOURCES to better use than to develop resources where they do not exist,” said celebrated investor and philanthropist George Soros once. The wisdom of the iconic founder of the Soros Fund Management and the philanthropic Open Society Foundations may have been the underlying thought behind the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, better known now as PM-Kisan, but detractors see it as a mega poll gimmick.

The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) proclaims PM Kisan Samman Nidhi (or the Prime Minister’s Farmer Salutation Fund) to be a game changer. The scheme that became effective on December 1, 2018, aims to transfer Rs 6,000 every year into the bank accounts of small farmers through the direct benefit transfer (DBT) mechanism. Only farmers with cultivable landholdings smaller than two hectares (or five acres) are eligible for the scheme. Since 9.28 crore (or roughly 82 percent) of the 13.83 crore farmers in India fall within the category PM-Kisan targets, the scheme should logically prove to be the palliative rural India needs to alleviate the distress on the farmlands.

The funds, to be released in three installments, come with practically no strings attached. PM-Kisan simply puts money in the hands of small and marginal farmers across the country, so they may not be strapped for funds for inputs for farming or the myriad activities allied with agriculture like poultry farming or rearing sheep or cattle. Even though the PM-Kisan funds come from Budgetary resources, the onus of identifying the eligible beneficiaries of the scheme rests with the state government — and thereby hangs a tale. While three states, namely Delhi, Sikkim, and West Bengal have not provided the list of beneficiaries for PM-Kisan at all, some others like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya have not verified the uploaded the data or made requests for funds.