By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI:The PM Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Yojana, a Central Sector Scheme launched on February 24, 2019, provides annual financial assistance of Rs. 6000/- per eligible farmer family. So far, more than Rs. 3.70 lakh crores have been disbursed to over 11 crore farmer families in the country through 20 instalments. The benefits of the scheme are being provided to those farmers whose land details are seeded in PM KISAN portal, have bank accounts seeded with Aadhaar and eKYC is completed. This scheme stands out as one of the largest Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) initiative globally, underscoring its monumental impact on facilitating financial support directly to the beneficiaries. With a commitment to inclusivity, it dedicates over 25% of its benefits to women beneficiaries.
The scheme leverages technological & process advancements so that the maximum number of beneficiaries can be benefited without any hassle. A farmer-centric digital infrastructure ensures widespread accessibility, ensuring that eligible farmers across the country can seamlessly avail the scheme’s benefits. The strategic incorporation of digital public goods has not only eliminated middlemen but has also paved the way for a streamlined delivery system reaching the remotest corners. The scheme’s effectiveness is further bolstered by the utilization of the Aadhaar and Aadhaar-based payment ecosystem, ensuring secure and efficient transactions.
A farmer-centric digital infrastructure has ensured the benefits of the scheme reach all the farmers across the country without any involvement of the middlemen.
To strengthen its core, the Scheme has gone through many technological interventions.
Empowerment of farmers is happening through digitalization. Farmers are getting help in every village of the country. “Technology is reaching the farmers’ doorstep.”, one such example is PM-KISAN Mobile App – PM-KISAN Mobile App has been launched to provide direct services to the beneficiaries. Further, the use of Facial Authentication feature via Aadhaar for eKYC verification of the farmers, by which a farmer can complete his and other fellow farmers eKYC via facial authentication just by sitting at his/her room.
Further for more ease, farmers can visit the dedicated portal pmkisan.gov.in. Under the “Farmers Corner” section, those receiving benefits from PM KISAN can easily check their status using the new “Know Your Status” feature. The portal also offers a quick and easy self-registration process for farmers. To ensure accessibility, registrations can also be done at nearby Common Service Centers (CSC) and farmers can also open Aadhaar-based bank accounts at their doorstep with the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB),
Given the significance of the PM Kisan Scheme, the Grievance Redressal system has been provided on the PM Kisan portal and the Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS). Farmers can raise their concerns directly on the PM-KISAN portal, and for quick and timely information.
Further, to facilitate the grievances in the real-time, Kisan-eMitra chatbot has also been made available to the farmers. It addresses the technological and language barriers and facilitates the farmers to address their issues in their own language.
