Narendra Modi signed the first file on Monday, a day after taking oath as Prime Minister for the third term on June 10, authorizing the release of the 17th installment of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi. The scheme will benefit 9.3 crore farmers and distribute around ₹20,000 crore, said PM Modi.
“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,” PM Narendra Modi said.
Following the ruling National Democratic Alliance’s poll win, this decision signifies the government’s commitment to farmers’ welfare, albeit with some setbacks, especially in parts of rural India.
What is Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)?
The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi or PM-KISAN, a central sector scheme that aims at providing financial assistance to cultivable land holding 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.
Launched in February 2019, just ahead of the previous Lok Sabha elections, under this scheme, an amount of ₹6,000 is transferred annually in three equal installments of ₹2,000 directly into the Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts of the farmers.
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Narendra Modi’s Council of Ministers
Prime Minister Modi was sworn in as prime minister on Sunday for the historical third term, heading a 72-member Union council of ministers.
The maximum representation in Modi’s new Council of Ministers was from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, while assembly poll-bound Maharashtra also found a significant presence.
Uttar Pradesh has got nine ministerial berths, including one Cabinet, while out of a total of eight ministers from the state, Bihar has bagged four cabinet berths.
Maharashtra has six ministerial berths, including two Cabinet ministers, while Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have five members each in the council of ministers that was sworn in on Sunday.
Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have three ministerial berths each.
Odisha, Assam, Jharkhand, Telangana, Punjab, West Bengal and Kerala have two ministerial berths in the council of ministers.
Rajnath Singh, from Uttar Pradesh is the sole cabinet minister, while Gujarat’s four cabinet ministers include Prime Minister Modi, Amit Shah, Mansukh Mandaviya and C R Paatil.
Bihar’s four cabinet ministers include former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi from HAM(S), Rajiv Ranjan Singh ‘Lalan’ from JD(U), Giriraj Singh from BJP and Chirag Paswan from LJP (RV).
Madhya Pradesh has three cabinet berths – former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Virendra Kumar and Jyotiraditya Scindia, while Nitin Gadkari and Piyush Goyal represent Maharashtra in the cabinet.
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(With inputs from agencies)