Over 20 lakh farmers from West Bengal were among 9.5 crore farmers who received ₹2,000 each under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi on Friday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi ensured that ₹ 20,667.75 crore was deposited in the accounts of 9,50,67,601 crore farmers across the country. While for many of them this was eighth instalment of PM-Kisan scheme; for over 20 lakh farmers from West Bengal, who recently joined the scheme, this was the very first instalment of ₹2,000, which would be paid in every four months of a year.

“With West Bengal joining the scheme, I can happily say that farmers from all over the country are part of this scheme,” said Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, also present at the virtual meeting. He said till date, a cumulative sum of ₹1.16-lakh crore has been given to all eligible farmers in the country since it was launched in February 2019.

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Modi said he was happy to see that farmers from West Bengal are getting their first instalment of PM-Kisan scheme, which he said would be much beneficial for small and marginal farmers.

In these days of hardship, the money distributed under the PM-Kisan scheme is of great value for farmers, the Prime Minister said adding that he was happy that the government could distribute it to farmers just before the new crop year to commence.

Modi also interacted with six farmers from different parts of the country to know about their farming-related experiences first hand.

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Video-interaction with farmers

Among those interacted with the Prime Minister were Arvind Nishad, a farmer from Unnao district in Uttar Pradesh, who along with fellow farmers around turned to organic farming and Khurshid Ahmed from Srinagar, who took up farming despite being a postgraduate in English literature. Revistar Kharumnuid from Ri-Bhoi in Meghalaya, Patric from Car Nicobar Islands, Vennuramma, a tribal woman farmer from Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh and Balasaheb Narare from Latur in Maharashtra, too, interacted with Modi during the occasion over video conferencing.

Bumper crop, procurement

According to Modi, the government has been able to distribute as much as ₹1.35-lakh crore under the scheme so far, of which ₹60,000 crore reached the farmers during the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the challenges posed by Covid-19, farmers in the country have been able to produce record foodgrains and horticultural crops.

Matching this, the government has also been procuring more grains from farmers. The government has been breaking its own records by procuring more and more rice and wheat every year. During the current rabi marketing season, Modi said, the procurement of wheat has already been 10 per cent more than what it procured last year.

The Prime Minister also reminded farmers and others living in rural areas about the need for following all Covid-appropriate measures as the infection is slowly spreading to rural areas. He said Central and State governments are doing everything possible to manage the situation, but people have a big role to play in stopping its spread.

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