To ensure pan-India, wider coverage of farmers’ income support scheme -- Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan), the Centre has now roped in Common Service Centre (CSC) to speed up the enrolment process. The Ministry of Agriculture has tied up with CSC, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) under the Ministry of IT and Electronics, to fulfil the target of enrolling 14 crore marginal farmers across India.
PM-Kisan is 100 per cent income support scheme funded by the Centre which was launched in December 2018. Under the scheme an income support of Rs 6,000 per year is provided to all farmer families across the country in three equal installments of Rs 2,000 each every four months.
“CSC has been roped in by the Ministry of Agriculture to expedite the coverage of the scheme. Over 3-lakh CSCs spread across length and breadth of the country will now start enrolling famers eligible for PM-Kisan scheme.
Farmers can now visit nearby CSCs to get enrolled and avail the scheme’s benefit. CSCs have also been given the mandate to make any changes in previous enrolment.
Any farmer who is already a beneficiary and wants to make changes in his enrollment form like address or nominee can visit CSCs to get it done,” said CSC CEO Dr Dinesh Tyagi.
Dr Tyagi said CSC has already been doing the enrolment work for PM Kisan Maan Dhan - a Centre-sponsored pension scheme for farmers. Now with the mandate for PM-Kisan, CSCs will emerge as a major social support centre for marginal farmers across India.
Agriculture Ministry sources said since its launch last year, only 7 crore farmers have been enrolled in the PK-Kisan scheme against the target of 14 crores. In a high-level meeting it was decided to rope in CSC to speed up the enrollment process.