The Agriculture Ministry has sought Rs 60,000 crore for the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana ( PM KISAN ) for the next fiscal year, a 20 per cent less than the previous year allocation of Rs 75,000 crore.  The Ministry has been able to disburse only Rs 44,000 crore so far this fiscal under the scheme.

The Centre had allocated Rs 75,000 crore in the Budget Estimate (BE) for 2019-20 to implement the PM-KISAN scheme, under which Rs 6,000 is being provided to farmers per year in three equal instalments.

Sources said the allocation is estimated to have come down to Rs 61,000 crore in the Revised Estimate (RE) for the current fiscal as some States, including West Bengal, have not rolled out this scheme and many others do not have proper data of the farmers.

The projection of the number of beneficiary farmers has also been pegged lower at 14 crore from the earlier 14.5 crore.

 “The Government is expected to allocate around Rs 61,000 crore for 2020-21 fiscal, almost same amount that was provided in the revised estimate for the 2019-20 fiscal,” source added.

The allocation in revised budget estimate has been lowered as the Central Government has so far distributed funds under the PM-KISAN scheme to 8.35 crore farmers, source added.

In the interim Budget presented in February 2019, the government had launched the PM-KISAN.  That apart, the Government may increase farm credit target by 10 per cent from Rs 13.5 lakh crore targeted for this fiscal, source said. The target for agriculture credit for this fiscal has already been achieved.

 Source also said the government may allocate Rs 15,000 crore for farm insurance scheme, up from Rs 14,000 crore in the current year. Already, the government has disbursed Rs 12,135 crore towards premium till December 2019.