on Feb 23, 2021)West Bengal farmers’ wait to get benefits under the central ‘income support scheme’, PM-Kisan, may end soon as the state, after being politically cornered on the issue in the runup to assembly polls, has finally come on board by responding to the verification exercise for beneficiaries.
Under the scheme, each landholder farmer family gets Rs 6,000 per annum. The central government transfers money directly into their bank accounts in three equal instalments of Rs 2,000.
Though West Bengal resisted joining the scheme for two years, around 55% (38 lakh) of the total 69 lakh farmers in the state have registered themselves on the PM-Kisan portal voluntarily in what could be a clear message to the Mamata Banerjee government in the wake of BJP’s promise to get them their dues if the party comes to office.
Almost one lakh farmers of West Bengal registered themselves every day on the PM-Kisan portal in the past two weeks. Sensing the mood of farmers, the state government finally initiated the process of verification and forwarded the list of beneficiaries to the agriculture ministry.
“We are cross-checking the details by corroborating it with Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts of farmers. Transfer of money into eligible farmers’ accounts may happen soon. We expect the state to quickly verify the details of as many potential beneficiaries as possible at its end,” a senior agriculture ministry official said while confirming the state’s participation.
The PM-Kisan scheme will complete two years on Wednesday. So far, over 10.7 crore farmers have received money under the scheme with UP, Maharashtra, MP, Bihar and Rajasthan taking the top five positions in absolute numbers.
Though most states had joined the scheme in February 2019, the remaining ones except West Bengal had come on board within the next few months.
