A senior government official told that as many as 4.74 crore farmers listed under the PM-Kisan scheme before the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for general polls came into effect on 10th March will receive the 2nd installment of Rs 2,000 each in their bank accounts.
Out of these 4.74 crore recipients, 2.74 crore farmers so far have received the 1st installment and the remaining will be covered by end of the month, he said.
The ECI or Election Commission of India has permitted the Agriculture Ministry to transfer the 1st as well as 2nd part of the payment to all those beneficiaries registered under the PM-Kisan before 10th March, the official said.
The Centre, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections had announced the Rs 75,000-crore Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) yojana under which Rs 6,000 /year would be distributed in three installments to about 12 crore farmers having cultivable land up to 2 hectares. In the budget, the government allotted a sum of Rs 20,000 crore, to transfer Rs 2,000 each to the cultivators in the 1st installment by March-end, for the ongoing fiscal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally launched the scheme at national level on 24th February in Gorakhpur by transferring the 1st installment to 1.01 crore farmers - amounting Rs 2,021 crore.
The official further told PTI, "We were hoping to have the data of 12 crore farmers from all over the country. But the data of 4.74 crore farmers has come before the MCC was implemented".
He added that the government has already released the 1st installment of Rs 2,000 each to over 2.74 crore beneficiaries and the rest will be covered before this month-end. With reference to the payment of 2nd tranche to begin from 1st April, the officer said the ECI has allowed making the payment to all those recipients registered before the MCC kicked in.
He also said, "We can move ahead and make the payment of 1st installment to the remaining people whose names are on the portal. We can go ahead & make the payment for the 2nd installment as well".
In UP, the first installment has already been released to approximately 1 crore farmers so far and the government has received data of additional 66 lakh farmers. The official told that Haryana and Punjab are amongst the top beneficiary states as more than 80 % of the farmers registered under the yojana have received the 1st installment.
On the other hand, some states like Delhi, West Bengal and Sikkim have not yet submitted the farmers' data thus no money has been transferred. The official also stated that no new data has come from states after the MCC came into effect.
