Over 18 lakh farmers in the country have opted for a pension scheme launched by the government early this year, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

As many as 18,29,469 farmers enrolled for Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan-Dhan Yojana (PM-KMY) till November 13, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said in a reply to a question in the Lower House.

Significantly, the enrolment has become sluggish in the recent months, considering that 16 lakh farmers had already joined the scheme within 10 days of launching the scheme. An Agriculture Ministry official had said on September 23 that around 16 lakh farmers enrolled for PM-KMY. This would mean that only 2 lakh farmers opted for the pension scheme in October and November.

The government is expecting that at least 3 crore farmer families to benefit from the scheme, launched on September 12 this year. The scheme is meant for small and marginal farmers in the age group of 18-40 years. Under the scheme, the farmers who enrol by paying a monthly premium of Rs. 55-200 will get a monthly pension of Rs. 3,000 from the age of 60.

The maximum number of farmers enrolled for the scheme are from Haryana which has registered over 4 lakh farmers, Jharkhand and Bihar have enrolled over 2.4 lakh farmers each.

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