Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan responded to concerns raised by DMK Arani MP  M.S. Tharanivendhan regarding difficulties in applying for the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme. He emphasized that the central government is fully prepared to support all states without discrimination. However, he pointed out that during both of his recent visits to Tamil Nadu, neither the state’s Agriculture Minister nor the Rural Development Minister attended the scheduled meetings.

The second phase of the Parliament Budget Session, which commenced on 10 March 2025, witnessed disruptions due to protests against the alleged imposition of Hindi. Tensions escalated in the Lok Sabha when DMK members objected to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s statement, accusing the Tamil Nadu government of dishonesty in implementing the PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme. Against this backdrop, Chouhan blamed Tamil Nadu ministers for not cooperating with the Centre on farmer-related initiatives.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha during Question Hour, Chouhan reiterated the Centre’s commitment to providing an annual financial benefit of ₹6,000 to all eligible farmers under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme. He urged state governments to cooperate in identifying farmers who had not yet been enrolled and ensure their inclusion. “If any eligible farmer is left out, we request states to help us include them. The government will also ensure that past instalments are provided to those who were previously excluded,” Chouhan stated.

He reassured that funds under the scheme would be directly transferred to farmers’ bank accounts in three equal instalments of ₹2,000, with no delays.

Chouhan Asserts Centre’s Neutral Stance On Tamil Nadu 

Addressing concerns about Tamil Nadu, Chouhan stressed that the central government does not discriminate against any state. However, he expressed disappointment that, during his two visits to Tamil Nadu for agriculture and rural development discussions, state ministers failed to attend the meetings. “As a union minister, I have so far visited Tamil Nadu twice. Once for the work related to the agriculture ministry and the other for the works of the rural development ministry. In both occasions, neither the state agriculture minister nor the rural development minister came for the meeting,” he said.

“I am willing to visit Tamil Nadu again to discuss farmers’ issues. The central government remains committed to serving the people of Tamil Nadu and holds deep respect for them,” he asserted.

"I went to TN twice, once for Agro & once for Rural Development. No state minister attended meetings both times. STILL, We're giving ₹7600 Crores for MNREGA to TN. We don't discriminate. We respect Tamil Culture, Language…"

.@ChouhanShivraj Ji gave BELT TREATMENT to DMK MPs. pic.twitter.com/xQl8g1gv4O

— BhikuMhatre (@MumbaichaDon) March 11, 2025

Overview of PM Kisan Scheme

The PM Kisan Samman Nidhi is a fully centrally funded scheme that has been in operation since 1 December 2018. Under this initiative, all land-owning farmer families receive annual financial assistance of ₹6,000 in three equal instalments.

State governments and Union Territories are responsible for identifying eligible farmer families as per the scheme’s guidelines.

On 24 February 2025, the latest instalment was disbursed through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), amounting to ₹22,000 crore. This payment benefitted 9.8 crore farmers nationwide, including 2.41 crore women farmers.

(With inputs from Business Standard)

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The Centre, during the 2023-24 rabi season, has procured 6.41 lakh metric tonnes of pulses at an MSP value of ₹4,820 crore which has benefited 2.75 lakh farmers, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare on Wednesday.

The procurement to support the farmers included 2.49 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of masoor, 43,000 MT of chana, and 3.48 LMT of moong. Similarly, 12.19 LMT of oilseeds of ₹6,900 crore of MSP value were procured from 5.29 lakh farmers.

During the start of the ongoing Kharif season, market prices of soyabean were ruling much below MSP prices, leading to great hardship to farmers. With the intervention of the Centre under the PSS scheme (a component of PM AASHA), 5.62 lakh LMT of soyabean has been procured at an MSP value of ₹ 2,700 crore, as of December 11 this year which has benefited 2.42 lakh farmers.

This is also the highest quantity of soyabean ever procured, the statement said. The procurement data since 2018-19, shows that around 195.39 LMT of pulses, oilseeds, and copra have been procured at an MSP value of ₹10.74 lakh crore benefiting 99.3 lakh farmers under the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan” (PM-AASHA) scheme.

The government is also promoting a Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS) as an option for oilseeds. This scheme aims at ensuring remunerative prices to the producers of oilseeds whose MSPs are notified by the Centre.

The PDPS envisages the direct payment of the price difference between the MSP and the selling price in notified markets up to 15 per cent of MSP value by the Central government to the pre-registered farmers selling the oilseeds, the official statement said. Another important component of PM AASHA is the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) meant for perishable agricultural commodities such as tomato, onion and potato, known as TOP crops not covered under MSP.

This scheme will immensely benefit the farmers growing these price-sensitive crops and consumers. The scheme is implemented at the request of the state/UT government when there is a reduction of prices in the market by at least 10 per cent over the rates of the previous normal season in the states/UTs, the statement said.

Under MIS, in place of physical procurement, states may have an option to make a differential payment between the market intervention price and selling price, subject to coverage of 25 per cent of the production of crops and a maximum price difference up to 25 per cent of MIP.

Further, in the case of TOP crops, where there is a price difference between the production and consuming states, in the interest of the farmers, the operational costs incurred by Central nodal agencies (CNAs) like NAFED and NCCF in storing and transporting crops from producing states to other consuming states will be reimbursed by the government, the statement said.

Moreover, there is a price disparity in these crops – prices are very low in producing states in contrast to very high prices in consuming states. This scheme will therefore play a critical role in bridging the price gap and countering the effect of price volatility, the statement added.

–IANS

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India saved pilferages worth $40 billion in the last eight years with the government’s Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes, according to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Speaking at the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania, during her US visit this week, the minister said over 51 ministries and departments in the central government now use various DBT schemes.

More than $450 billion have been transferred cumulatively in the last eight years via the unique government scheme to date, she informed. “As finance minister, I need to stop the pilferage. I must ensure every taxpayer’s rupee is spent properly and accounted for properly. I can’t have pilferages taking over,” she told the gathering.

Through Aadhaar-linked DBT, launched in 2013, cash benefits from various welfare schemes are directly transferred into beneficiaries’ bank accounts, reducing the need for multiple documents and eliminating duplicate or fake beneficiaries.

As part of the PM-KISAN scheme, the world’s largest DBT scheme, more than ₹3.04 lakh crore has already been disbursed into the accounts of more than 11 crore farmers across the nation. With the release of the 17th installment, the total amount transferred to the beneficiaries since the scheme’s inception will cross ₹3.24 lakh crore.

This initiative is one of the world’s largest DBT schemes, and it leverages digital platforms for transparent enrollment and transfer of welfare funds to farmers.

PM-KISAN has ended its reliance on moneylenders and has fostered sustainable farming practices. By eliminating intermediaries, the scheme ensures equitable support reaches all farmers, marking a significant step towards agricultural empowerment and financial inclusion.

Also, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) promotes financial inclusion, opening over 523 million bank accounts and bringing marginalised sections into the formal financial system.

According to the government, this Aadhaar-driven approach has empowered people and led to significant savings for the public exchequer by cleansing scheme databases, removing millions of fake, non-existent, and ineligible beneficiaries across multiple government ministries and departments.

For example, Aadhaar-driven DBT has eliminated over 4.15 crore fake LPG connections and 5.03 crore duplicate ration cards, streamlining the distribution of essential services like cooking gas and food subsidies.

—IANS

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Union Home Minister Amit Shah highlighted the NDA government’s achievements during the 100 days of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third term on Tuesday. Accompanied by Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Shah launched a booklet highlighting the government’s achievements on the 100th day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third term.

Addressing the media in the national capital, Union Minister Shah said that projects worth ₹15 lakh crore have been initiated in the first 100 days of this term, including infrastructure worth ₹3 lakh crore.

The Home Minister emphasised India’s foreign policy shift, remarking, “For the first time since Independence, the world has seen a foreign policy with a backbone under the Modi government. Previously, many, including myself, couldn’t see this backbone in India’s foreign policy. Now, it is visible.”

He also cited the Modi government’s achievements in the past decade, stating that 60 crore people have benefitted from homes, toilets, gas connections, drinking water, electricity, free grains, and healthcare worth up to ₹5 lakh annually. “Our goal is that in the next elections, no person in this country will be without a home,” he asserted.

Regarding political stability under PM Modi’s leadership, the Home Minister noted, “For the first time in 60 years, the country is experiencing political stability, and we have also felt the consistency of policy implementation.” “Maintaining the pace of policies for the past decade and entering the 11th year is challenging in my view,” he added.

He added that a mega port costing ₹76,000 crore is set to be established, ranking among the top 10 ports globally. The government also aims to connect 25,000 unconnected villages through an investment of ₹59,000 crore and plans to upgrade major roads across the country for Rs 50,600 crore.

The Union Home Minister also discussed the 17th instalment of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Yojana, under which ₹20.5 crore was disbursed to 9 crore farmers. To date, 12.33 lakh farmers have been allocated ₹3 lakh crore.

The government has also increased the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Kharif crops and promoted ethanol development from maise to reduce the dependence on sugar. He further highlighted the government’s support for the middle class, with tax redemption offered on income up to ₹17 lakh and the Mudra loan limit increased from ₹10 lakh to ₹20 lakh.

The Union Home Minister also announced that the third version of One Rank, One Pension, has been allocated, and 3 crore houses have been built under the PM Awas Yojana.

Hailing the successful implementation of the ‘Lakhpati Didi’ programme, he said, “I believe that even this initiative, in a way, will open up an avenue for employment for poor women.” He praised the government’s efforts to abolish the 31 per cent angel tax on startups and lauded the Ayushman Bharat Yojana for providing health coverage up to ₹5 lakh.

The Union Home Minister said that senior citizens over 70 will receive an extra ₹5 lakh for medical expenses, with no income limit for eligibility.

He also spoke about the introduction of three new criminal laws – the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam – which replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and the Indian Evidence Act respectively.

The Union Home Minister further announced a new flood management scheme worth ₹6,350 crore, marking the first of its kind in the country.

He also highlighted the creation of five new districts in Ladakh and the decision to observe Constitution Day on June 25, as part of efforts to raise awareness and prevent future challenges like the Emergency.

On the situation in Manipur, he mentioned that within the first 100 days of the Modi government’s third term, 30 kilometres of the India-Myanmar border has been fenced, with plans to fence the entire 1,500 kilometres.

He added that the government has nullified the agreement, allowing movement across the India-Myanmar border without a visa, and has successfully deployed the CRPF at strategic locations in the region.

Addressing the issue of violence in Manipur, the Union Minister stated, “In the past three days, there has been a spate of violence; however, apart from this, there have been no major incidents in the last three months. We are optimistic about getting the situation under control. We are currently engaging in discussions with both the local tribes, including the Kuki and Meitei groups. We have devised a plan to address the issue.”

He also reaffirmed the government’s commitment to the country’s development, security, and the welfare of its people, as outlined in its vision for a Viksit Bharat during the Amritkaal. Responding to a question on promoting local languages, he said, “I want to say that our government believes no country can develop by eliminating its local languages. Local languages are part of our history, culture, and traditions. Therefore, the new education policy emphasises primary education in local languages.”

–IANS

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The Prime Minister Narendra Modi today released the next instalment of financial benefit under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi through video conference.

Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said Rs 18000 crore have been deposited directly in the bank account of more than 9 crore farmer families in the country at the click of a button today. He added ever since this scheme started, more than 1 lakh 10 thousand crore rupees have reached the account of farmers.

The Prime Minister expressed regret that more than 70 lakh farmers of West Bengal have not been able to get this benefit. He said over 23 lakh farmers of Bengal have applied online to take advantage of this scheme. But the state government has stopped the verification process for so long. He said the parties which do not speak in the interest of farmers in West Bengal, come here to Delhi and talk about the farmer. He said these parties are missing APMC-mandis nowadays, but these parties repeatedly forget that there are no APMC-mandis in Kerala and these people never agitate in Kerala.

The Prime Minister said the Government worked at aiming to reduce the input cost of the farmers. He listed some farmer-centric initiatives of the Government like Soil Health Card, Neem Coating of Urea, scheme for distribution of Solar Pumps which helped in reducing the input cost for the farmers. He added the government tried to ensure that the farmers have a better crop insurance cover. Today, crores of farmers are getting the benefit of the PM crop insurance scheme.

The Prime Minister said the government tried to ensure that the country’s farmers get a fair price for the crop. He said the Government fixed one and a half times the production cost as MSP for the farmers as per the recommendations of the long-standing Swaminathan Committee report. He added the number of crops for which MSP is available were also increased.

The Prime Minister said that the Government aimed to open new markets for the farmers to sell their crop. He said the Government added more than a thousand agricultural mandis of the country online. Among these, more than Rs. one lakh crore have been traded. He said the Government worked towards forming groups of small farmers so that they can work as a collective force in their region. Today, a campaign is underway to form more than 10000 Farmers Producer Organizations – FPO in the country, they are being given financial help.

The Prime Minister said today, the farmers are getting a pucca house, toilet and clean piped drinking water. They have benefited greatly from the free electricity connection, free gas connection. Free treatment up to Rs. 5 lakh under Ayushman Bharat scheme has reduced the major concern of the lives of farmers.

The Prime Minister said through these agricultural reforms better options were provided to the farmers. After these laws farmers can sell their produce to whomever they want. They can sell their produce wherever they get the right price. He said after the new laws, farmers can sell their produce at MSP or sell it at market or export or sell it to the merchant, or sell it in another state, or sell it through FPO or be part of the value chain of biscuits, chips, jam, other consumer products.

The Prime Minister said investment and innovation has improved in other sectors, the income was enhanced and Brand India was established in that sector. He said now the time has come for Brand India to establish itself in the agricultural markets of the world with equal prestige.

The Prime Minister thanked all the farmers across the country who have fully supported and welcomed the agricultural reforms and assured that he will not let them down. He said people mainly from the rural areas, participated in the recently held local body elections in Assam, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir and in a way, rejected all the parties that misled farmers.

(Published from PIB)

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What is the PM KISAN scheme?

The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM KISAN) is a Central Sector Scheme through which an income support of ₹6000 per year is given to small and marginal farmers in 3 equal instalments.

The PM KISAN scheme is a Central Sector Scheme i.e., the complete expenditure for the scheme is borne by the Government of India.

Who are eligible?

Small and marginal farmer family having a combined land holding or ownership upto 2 hectares are eligible for the scheme. The beneficiaries are identified by the respective State and Union Territory governments.

While a family may have four individual adults each of them owning a separate farm land, only one member will be eligible to get enrolled under the scheme.

Who are not eligible?

Farmer families with professionals like doctors, engineers, lawyers, chartered accountants and architects, registered with professional bodies and carrying out profession by undertaking practices, income tax payers, present and retired employees of State or Central government, institutional landholders, farmer families with former or present constitutional post holders, retired pensioners with monthly pensions of ₹10,000 and above

What is the issue?

About 5 lakh ineligible people from Tamil Nadu have been enrolled under the scheme leading to the siphoning off of around ₹110 crore from the exchequer.

Many of these ineligible people were reportedly enrolled as beneficiaries during the lockdown period.

Chengalpet, Cuddalore, Dharmapuri, Kallakurichi, Krishnagiri, Ranipet, Salem, Tiruvannamalai, Vellore, and Villupuram, were the districts where most of these ineligible people were added from.

The scam was first detected when the District Collector of Cuddalore found more than 100 people who are not farmers receiving the PM KISAN aid. These people were not aware of them being added to the scheme. The alarm bells were sounded when the total beneficiaries saw a dramatic increase from 39 lakh to 45 lakh by August.

How did it happen?

The Centre had introduced an online provision for self-registration where prospective beneficiaries can register for the scheme by furnishing the necessary proofs. This provision was used by the scamsters comprising of few Agriculture Department officials and private computer centres.

The reason for the scam is said to be fulfilment of targets. It was reported that the officials had on-boarded temporary contractual staff to fill unsuspecting people as beneficiaries.

These department officials are said to be not tech-savvy and had to rely on data entry operators in the computer centres. The computer centres had used the Aadhar details of the people in the locality that was collected during earlier occasions. Soon, agents started showing up in villages collecting the Aadhar card details.

Every district has a unique password which is given to the joint director, deputy directors and assistant directors in the agriculture department which cannot be changed. Either the passwords must have been stolen or the officials must have colluded.

The officials supposedly shared the login id and password with these computer centres who added the new beneficiaries and received about ₹2000 as commission per beneficiary.

One of the agents from Salem reportedly added 160 people another one added while another one added 50. Salem, the native district of CM Palaniswami, alone had more than 10,000 fake entries.

As the field officers of the department were occupied with providing other immediate requirement of farmers, there was laxity in verification exercises.

The discrepancy in land data is also considered as one of the factor. According to the Agricultural Census 2015-16, there are 79.38 lakh farm holdings, regarded as farmers. However, the State Agriculture Department notes the total number of farmer-beneficiaries are at an estimated at 41 lakh.

What has been done so far?

Principal Secretary and Agricultural Production Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi had said that 80 contractual employees were dismissed and 34 officials of the department suspended. 18 people identified as brokers who are mostly internet café owners have been arrested.

A CB-CID probe has been launched into the matter owing to the magnitude of the fraud. While action has been taken against the government officials for dereliction of duty, Mr. Bedi has assured that if anyone was found to have connived with the brokers, criminal action would be initiated against them which would be known as the probe progresses.

The government has reportedly retrieved ₹32 crores of the ₹110 crores. District Collectors have issued orders to banks to freeze the accounts of the ineligible beneficiaries and create a conduit to recover the balance money when it gets deposited to their accounts.

Mr. Bedi has spoken to Chairman of SBI and other public sector banks to speed up the recovery process.

The politics

As the scam came to light senior leaders of BJP Tamil Nadu submitted a petition to the Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu K Shanmugam. The BJP Tamil Nadu’s IT Wing president CTR Nirmal Kumar alleged that a scam of such magnitude would not have been possible without the involvement of top politicians.

While at present there are no prima facie involvement of top politicians in the scam, role of local politicians are not being ruled out.

The DMK President MK Stalin grabbed the opportunity to blame both the Centre and State alleging that both the governments were hand-in-glove.

Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami under whose watch the scam has surfaced though admitted about the irregularities, sought to blame the Centre’s self-registration process while staying silent on failure of state officials to verify the beneficiaries.

The CM has assured that the CB-CID probe would take its course and all perpetrators would be brought to books.

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FIR has been lodged against 2 bank officials in Uttar Pradesh for violating orders of Government of India and for refusing to provide Kisan Credit Card to farmers.

District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar took stern action against the officials after coming to know of the officials laxities in addressing farmers’ concerns.

Deputy Director of Agriculture Department R.B. Chowdary had said that the Centre has given instructions to give Kisan Credit Card to every farmer who is eligible for Kisan Credit Card. However, this directive is not being followed in most banks.

It was found that bank officials neither paid heed to farmers coming with requests for Kisan Credit Card nor were they properly treated at banks. Farmers were being made to run from pillar to post for getting KCC.

There were complaints that banks like State Bank of India and Allahabad Bank not giving KCC to farmers.
It also came to light that two employees employed at these banks did not properly comply with government orders.

CDO Abishek Pandey had approached the bank and ordered that the KCC be issued. But the attempt went futile and bank officials turned a deaf year. ‘

Subsequently, District Governor TM Raveendra Kumar ordered the FIR to be registered on both bank employees.

Following this FIR was lodged against district coordinator for SBI Pawan Kumar and district coordinator Atul Kumar of Allahabad Bank.

Source: Zee Hindustan

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As India enters the next phase of lockdown from tomorrow, the country is leaving no stone unturned in its fight against the deadly virus. From announcing economic packages, to ramping up testing and thanking frontline warriors, here is look at some of the key numbers and measures:

• About 70,000 – 75,000 tests are being conducted per day and the total samples tested has crossed 1 million
• Mortality rate stands at 3.2%
• Recovery rate has risen to 26.5% with 10632 patients discharged as of May 3
• There are 130 districts in red zone, 284 in orange zone and 319 in green zone
• More than 2 lakh PPE kits are being manufactured by close to 135 units
• Aarogya Setu App launched by government has hit more than 50 million downloads which has been helpful in tracking COVID-19 cases
• 430 flights have been operated under Lifeline Udan by Air India, Alliance Air, IAF and private carriers that has transported more than 795 tonnes of cargo comprising of medical kits and other essentials
• Janaushadhi Kendras achieved a record sales turnover of 52 crore for the month of April
• ₹17,793 crores has been released to 8.89 crore farmer families from March 24 to April 21
• More than 33 crore people have received financial assistance of  ₹31,235 crore and 39.27 crore beneficiaries have received free ration of food grains as of April 23 under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana
• To honour the services of frontliners like conservancy workers, doctors, nurses, policemen, farmers, etc., the Indian Armed Forces took to the air, land and sky and expressed solidarity in the fight against corona

Yet, this is not the time to be complacent.

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