FAQ of “Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)”

Frequently Asked Questions for
“Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)”

Possible FAQs:

1. What is Pradhan Mantri KIsan SAmman Nidhi ?

The Government has launched a new Central Sector Scheme Pradhan Mantri KIsan SAmman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) to provide income support to all Small and Marginal landholding farmer families to supplement their financial needs for procuring various inputs related to agriculture and allied activities as well as domestic needs. Under the Scheme, the entire financial liability towards transfer of benefit to targeted beneficiaries will be borne by Government of India.

2. What are the benefits of the Scheme?

Under the scheme, Landholder Farmer families with total cultivable holding upto 2 hectares shall be provided a benefit of Rs.6000 per annum per family payable in three equal installments, every four months. The scheme takes effect from 01.12.2018. The first installment to eligible beneficiaries during this financial year 2018-19 shall be for the period from 01.12.2018 to 31.03.2019.

3. Who is eligible to get benefits under the Scheme?

All landholding farmer families having cultivable landholding upto 2 hectare, whose names appear in the land records of States/UT as on 01.02.2019, are eligible to get benefit under the scheme. However, out of these, the following are ineligible to get the benefits :

(a) All Institutional Land holders; and

(b) Farmer families in which one or more of its members belong to following categories:-

i. Former and present holders of constitutional posts

ii. Former and present Ministers/ State Ministers and former/present Members of Lok Sabha/ Rajya Sabha/ State Legislative Assemblies/ State Legislative Councils, former and present Mayors of Municipal Corporations, former and present Chairpersons of District Panchayats.

iii. All serving or retired officers and employees of Central/ State Government Ministries /Offices/Departments and its field units Central or State PSEs and Attached offices /Autonomous Institutions under Government as well as regular employees of the Local Bodies (Excluding Multi Tasking Staff / Class IV/Group D employees)

iv. All superannuated/retired pensioners whose monthly pension is Rs.10,000/-or more(Excluding Multi Tasking Staff / Class IV/Group D employees)

v. All Persons who paid Income Tax in last assessment year.

vi. Professionals like Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Chartered Accountants, and Architects registered with Professional bodies and carrying out profession by undertaking practices.

4. How many times the benefit will be given in a year?

The benefit will be provided in three equal installments of Rs. 2000/- each for every 4 months period into the bank account of all eligible beneficiaries. For 2018-19, the beneficiary shall be provided one installment w.e.f. 01.12.2018.

5. Whether an employee of the Central/State Government / PSU / Autonomous Organization, etc. is eligible to get the benefit under the scheme?

No. Serving or retired officer and employee of Central/ State Government Ministries /Offices/Departments and its field units Central or State PSEs and Attached offices /Autonomous Institutions under Government as well as regular employees of the Local Bodies are not eligible to get benefit under the scheme. However, serving or retired Multi Tasking Staff / Class IV/Group D employee is eligible to get benefit under the Scheme provided their families are otherwise eligible and not covered under other exclusion criteria.

6. Will any individual or farmer family owning more than 2 hectare of cultivable land get any benefit under the scheme?

No. Any individual or farmer family owning more than 2 hectare of cultivable land will not get any benefit under the scheme.

7. What will happen if the beneficiary gives incorrect declaration for the implementation of the Scheme?

In case of incorrect declaration, the beneficiary shall be liable for recovery of transferred financial benefit and other penal actions as per law.

8. What is the cutoff date for determination of eligibility of beneficiaries under the scheme?

The cut-off date for determination of eligibility of beneficiaries under the scheme shall be 01.02.2019 and no changes thereafter shall be considered for eligibility of benefit under the scheme for next 5 years except transfer of land on succession in case of death of landholder.

9. Whether the scheme benefits will be allowed in cases where transfer of ownership of cultivable land takes place on account of succession due to death of the landowner?

Yes. The Scheme benefits will be allowed in all such cases where transfer of ownership of cultivable land has taken place on account of succession due to death of the landowner.

10. Whether transfer of ownership occurred between 01.12.2018 and 31.01.2019 are eligible for consideration?

In cases where transfer of ownership of cultivable land has happened between 01.12.2018 and 31.01.2019 due to any reasons such as purchase, succession, will, gift, etc., the first installment during the financial year (2018-19) shall be of proportionate amount from date of transfer till 31.03.2019 with respect to the 4 months period, provided the families are otherwise eligible as per scheme guidelines.

11. Is an income tax payee farmer or his /her spouse eligible to get benefit under the scheme?

No. if any member of the family is income tax payee in last assessment year, then the family is not eligible for benefit under the scheme.

12. What is the definition of small and marginal landholder farmer family?

A Small and Marginal landholder farmer family is defined as “a family comprising of husband, wife and minor children who collectively own cultivable land upto 2 hectare as per land records of the concerned State/UT”. The existing land-ownership system will be used for identification of beneficiaries for calculation of payment. 

13. Does any person/farmer who is not having land holding in his name is eligible to get benefit under the Scheme?

No. Land holding is the sole criteria to avail financial benefit under Income Support Scheme.

14. How the beneficiaries under the Scheme will be identified and shortlisted for payment of intended benefit?

The prevailing land-ownership system / record of land in different States/Union Territories will be used to identify the intended beneficiaries for transfer of scheme benefits. Responsibility of identifying the landholder farmer family eligible for benefit under the scheme shall be of the State/UT Government.

15. What is the mandatory information required to be submitted on PM-KISAN portal for the transfer of benefits?

The States shall prepare database of eligible beneficiary landholder farmer families in the villages capturing the Name, Age, Gender, Category (SC/ST) , Aadhaar Number (in case Aadhaar Number has not been issued then Aadhaar Enrollment Number together with any other prescribed documents for purposes of the identification such as Driving Licence, Voters’ ID Card, NREGA Job Card, or any other identification documents issued by Central/State/UT Governments or their authorities, etc.), Bank Account Number, IFSC Code. Though mobile number is not mandatory but it is advised that when available it may be captured so that the information related to sanction/transfer of benefit can be communicated. In cases of beneficiaries in States of Assam, Meghalaya, J&K where Aadhaar number has not been issued to most of the citizens, Aadhaar number shall be collected  for those beneficiaries where it is available and for others alternate prescribed documents can be collected for identity verification purposes by the States/UT Governments.

16. How does a landholder farmers’ family know that his/her name is included in the list of beneficiaries?

The beneficiary lists would be displayed at Panchayats to ensure greater transparency and information. Further, States/UTs would notify the sanction of benefit to the beneficiary through system generated SMS.

17. What is the remedy available for eligible beneficiary if his/her name is not included in the list of beneficiaries?

All such farmer families whose names are not included in the list of beneficiaries can approach the District Level Grievance Redressal Monitoring Committee in their Districts for inclusion of their names in the beneficiary list.

18. In case of landholding of 2 hectare in different parcels owned by family members are spread across different revenue records in the same or different villages, whether they will be eligible for benefit on all such pockets of land or will his benefit be limited to Rs.6000/- per annum only?

The entire land held by such farmer family will be pooled together and the maximum benefit of Rs. 6000 per annum will only be provided.

19. If the holding of a family is up to 2 hectare and are in the names of different members of family, whether they are eligible for the benefits?

Yes. If within a landholding farmer family, cultivable land is in names of different family members, in such cases, the land will be pooled for determination of eligibility. The payment will be given to the person within the family having highest quantum of land. If the quantum of land owned by two or more individual family members is same, payment will be transferred in the name of eldest member among them in the farmer family.

20. If there are multiple landholding farmer families whose names are recorded on a single landholding of more than 2 hectare but individual land holding of each/few of the farmers is 2 hectare or less, whether each farmer family is eligible to get benefit of the scheme? If so, what is the quantum of minimum financial benefit that such families will get under the scheme?

Each of such farmer family would be eligible for the benefit under the scheme upto the extent of Rs. 6000/- provided they are otherwise eligible as per scheme guidelines.

21. Will be monetary benefit under the Scheme be directly credited into beneficiary accounts?

The income support benefit will also be directly credited into bank accounts of beneficiaries.

22. Whether it is compulsory for beneficiaries to give their bank account details?

Yes, the beneficiaries are required to provide their bank account details with Aadhaar number so as to credit the financial benefit under the scheme directly into their bank accounts. No benefit can be given if bank account details have not been provided.

23. Whether giving Aadhaar details are mandatory?

Yes, since this is a beneficiary oriented scheme, in terms of extant guidelines, the Aadhaar number of the beneficiary has to be mandatorily provided. In case Adhaar number is not available, then in such case the application has to provide the Aadhar enrolment number to avail of the benefit under the scheme. However, only for transfer of first installment relaxation has been given for transfer of benefit to beneficiaries on basis of alternate documents for identification. However subsequent installments will be transferred only where States/UTs where Aadhar number is not available. In cases of beneficiaries in States of Assam, Meghalaya, J&K where Aadhaar number has not been issued to most of the citizens, Aadhaar number shall be collected for those beneficiaries where it is available and for others alternate prescribed documents can be collected for identity verification purposes by the States/UT Governments.

24. Can States/UTs provide certified lists of beneficiaries on the PM KISAN Portal in phases or in batches as and when they are finalized?

Yes, States/UTs can provide list of eligible beneficiaries as and when they are finalized based on the eligibility criteria in batches/phrases. The benefits will be released on regular basis based on the approved list provided by the States/UTs.

Source ; pmkisan.gov.in
[ http://www.pmkisan.gov.in/Documents/FAQPMKISAN.PDF ]

ADDITIONAL FAQ IN RESPECT OF THE PM-KISAN SCHEME (13.2.2019)

1. There is no distinction between urban and rural cultivable land and under the scheme. Both are covered under the scheme, provided that land situated in urban areas is under actual cultivation.
2. Micro land holdings, which are not cultivable, are excluded from the benefit under the scheme.
3. State Government to decide about the mechanism / authority for validation if information / declaration furnished by the beneficiary.
4. The cut-off date for `minor` children becoming `major’ is 1.2.2019.
5. Agricultural land being used for non-agricultural purpose will not be covered for benefit under the scheme.

Source ; pmkisan.gov.in
[http://www.pmkisan.gov.in/Documents/ADDITIONAL%20FAQ%20IN%20RESPECTIVE%20OF%20THE%20PM2.pdf ]