Ahead Of Delhi Elections, AAP Gives Nod To Implement PM-KISAN Scheme
By approving the PM-KISAN scheme, AAP wants to avoid a backlash from farmers during Delhi elections due January 2020, say sources.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi has approved implementation of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, or PM-KISAN scheme, under which income support of Rs 6,000 is provided to each eligible farmer.
The move comes months before the Delhi elections due in January 2020.
Under the PN-KISAN scheme, which was launched in February just before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the central govenrment is crediting Rs 6,000 in three equal instalments directly into the bank accounts of farmers.
Around seven crore farmers have received benefit under the scheme, but West Bengal and Delhi governments had refused to roll out the welfare programme.
"After much persuasion, the Delhi government has agreed to implement the scheme. They have sent names of 11,000 farmers," said Vivek Agarwal, joint secretary in the union agriculture ministry in-charge of the PM-KISAN scheme.
The ministry is waiting for the state government's auto-debit consent for transferring the amount, he told the Press Trust of India.
According to sources, the Delhi government has finally agreed to implement the PM-KISAN scheme as the ruling party wants to avoid a backlash from farmers during Delhi elections due in mid-January 2020.
Agarwal said farmers across the country are keen to join the scheme and take the benefit of Rs 6,000. "We have also received several applications of farmers from West Bengal. We cannot process them as the state government has not given consent.”
More than Rs 32,000 crore has already been released under the scheme through the first instalment to seven crore beneficiary farmers, the second instalment to 5.6 crore beneficiaries and third instalment to 3.2 crore beneficiaries, he added.