LUCKNOW — Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday launched the ambitious Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme transferring the first instalment of Rs 2,000 each to over one crore farmers.
Launching the scheme from Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur, the prime minister said the first instalment of money under the scheme has been deposited in accounts of 1.01 crore farmers and those who didn’t get it on Sunday will get it in due course.
“This is your money and no one will be able to take it from you,” he told the farmers.
The prime minister said the scheme has been made foolproof so that no one can take away the right of the farmers.
There is no role of middleman in this scheme, he said.
In the interim Budget 2019-20, the central government had announced the PM-KISAN scheme under which Rs 6,000 per year will be given in three instalments to 12 crore small and marginal farmers holding cultivable land up to two hectares.
Timing should not be questioned: BJP
The BJP said the timing of government launching any welfare scheme should not be questioned as no time frame can be attached in advance to such measures.
BJP Kisan Morcha president and Bhadohi MP Virendra Singh Mast said, “It is wrong to say that the government is reminded of farmers during the election season only. There is no time frame decided in advance for taking any welfare step. The opposition parties have nothing to say.”
In an interview, Mast told PTI that a number of farmers welfare schemes were launched by the government in the past nearly five years.