The Union Cabinet has approved three significant schemes on Thursday, with one scheme specifically aimed at extending crucial income support for farmers across the nation. According to The Economic Times, this approval represents a concrete step toward expanding the PM-KISAN programme's reach and scope. The cabinet's decision comes as the government continues to evaluate ways to strengthen agricultural support mechanisms and address the needs of India's farming community.
The government has approved ₹3.15 trillion in financial outlay for PM-KISAN over a five-year period, translating to approximately ₹64,000 crore annually. According to reports from Business Standard, this maintains the benefit per farmer at ₹6,000 since the scheme's inception. The current structure limits subsidies to land-owning farmers only, requiring them to have landholdings in their names with states verifying local land-revenue records against applicant names. The scheme provides subsidies irrespective of land-holding size, but excludes tenant farmers who comprise a significant portion of India's agricultural workforce.
As reported by Business Standard, India maintains a substantial population of landless and tenant farm households that face acute vulnerability to rising input prices, drought, and floods. These farmers have limited access to markets and face perennial uncertainty regarding tenancy rights. The extension of PM-KISAN to this category would provide deeper fulfillment of the government's stated objective of protecting farmers' livelihoods. The complication lies in the overlap between landowners and farmers, which could be addressed through state verification processes.
According to Business Standard, PM-KISAN's proven ability to meet JAM trinity requirements (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) creates an opportunity to streamline fertiliser subsidies. The scheme could calculate farmers' fertiliser requirements based on landholding size and pay subsidies accordingly. This would offer a more transparent system compared to the current pricing subvention regime that routes subsidies through fertiliser producers. The integration could prevent leakages, particularly of urea, the most used and subsidised fertiliser, which currently causes heavy subsidy losses.
As reported by Business Standard, agri-input prices have risen significantly after 2019, raising questions about the effectiveness of an income-support scheme that remains unindexed to inflation. The space for increasing support is limited given overall fiscal constraints. However, small and marginal farmers, who constitute the bulk of India's rural households, have been key beneficiaries of the scheme, justifying its extension within the agricultural universe. The government's leverage of farm lobbies and the permanence of subsidies once introduced creates an opportunity to reorient the scheme usefully.
