The beneficiaries of the government's flagship scheme PM Kisan must get their bank account and e-KYC verified by 10 February, officials said on Wednesday. The verification will be important for receiving the next installment of the direct benefit transfer scheme, the officials added.
“It has been made mandatory for the beneficiaries of the PM Kisan Scheme before February 10, 2023, for e-KYC, linking bank account with Aadhaar and direct benefit transfer to a bank account for the next installment transfer,” news agency PTI quoted Meghraj Singh Ratnu, the state nodal officer of the scheme.
The officer added that the instructions are issued by the Government of India in this regard.
Ratnu said in a statement that by January 2023, around 67% of the PM Kisan beneficiaries have completed e-KYC while around 88% have linked their bank accounts to get the benefit of the scheme. He requested remaining beneficiaries get the documentation complete by 10 February.
The government has authorized India Post Payments Bank for this purpose.
This came after a reduction in Budget allocation for the PM Kisan scheme from ₹68,000 crore to ₹60,000 crore. This is the lowest budget allocation for the scheme in the last five years. The sources have claimed that the reason for the drop in budget allocation is the reduction in the number of beneficiaries.
The number of beneficiaries during the latest, 12th round (Aug-Nov 2022) has reduced to 8.42 crore. This was a substantial reduction from 10.45 crore beneficiaries during the 11th round (Apr-July 2022).
The scheme which was launched in 2018 provides ₹6,000 to eligible farmer families in three installments of ₹2,000 each. PM Kisan is a central sector scheme with 100% funding provided by the Government of India.
PM Kisan is the biggest scheme for the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer's Welfare and the reduction in the allocation of the scheme has also reduced the overall budget of the ministry from ₹1,32,513.62 crore in 2022-23 to ₹1,25,035.79 crore in 2023-24.
