New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off his third term in office on Monday morning by authorising the release of the 17th instalment of PM Kisan Nidhi, which aims to benefit 9.3 crore farmers and distribute around Rs 20,000 crores.
PM Modi, who took oath of office for a historic third consecutive term on Sunday arrived at his office in South Bloc this morning and put his signature on the file pertaining to the instalment for the farmers under the flagship scheme that was launched in 2019.
This gesture soon after swearing in as the prime minister for the third time shows his commitment and his government's commitment towards the welfare of the farmers.
The Prime Minister asserted that his government was fully committed to farmers.
After signing the file, PM Modi said, "Ours is a Government fully committed to Kisan Kalyan. It is therefore fitting that the first file signed on taking charge is related to farmer welfare. We want to keep working even more for the farmers and the agriculture sector in the times to come."
The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), a central sector scheme, aims at providing financial assistance to cultivable landholding farmer families across the country, subject to certain exclusion criteria, to enable them to take care of expenses related to agriculture and allied activities as well as domestic needs.
Under the Scheme launched in February 2019 just ahead of the previous Lok Sabha elections, an amount of Rs 6,000 is transferred annually in three equal installments of Rs 2000 directly into the Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts of the farmers.
Under the PM-KISAN Scheme, the responsibility to identify the beneficiaries and upload their correct and verified data on PM-KISAN portal lies with the respective State/UT Government.
Over 2.42 lakh crore have been already disbursed to more than 11 crore beneficiary farmer families through various installments.
The scheme is applicable only for landholding farmers. The number of farmers whose land details are seeded on the PM-KISAN Portal is more than 9.53 crore.
President Droupadi Murmu administered the Oaths of Office and Secrecy to Prime Minister Narendra and his 71 Members of the Council of Ministers at a ceremony held in the Rashtrapati Bhavan last evening. The swearing-in ceremony was attended by leaders from India's neighbourhood among other dignitaries.
Allocation of portfolios to the newly sworn in ministers are expected to be finalised soon after a Cabinet meeting later in the day.
PM Modi led BJP-led NDA to third successive victory in the recent Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP won absolute majority on its own in 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls winning 282 and 303 seats respectively. In 2024, PM Modi leads an NDA coalition with 292 seats in the Parliament and has laid thrust on making India a developed nation by 2047.
—ANI