On the 25th of December, Prime Minister Narendra Modi released Rs. 18,000 crores for the instalment of PM-Kisan Scheme.
The direct cash transfer scheme would benefit as many as 9 crore farmers.
The release of money came at a time when farmers’ protests against the three laws passed by the Parliament in September to reform the farm sector.
Mr. Modi took to Twitter and said, “It was the initiative of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government to ensure farmers get loan on low interest rates. Today is his birthday and we have marked the day by releasing an instalment of the PM-KISAN scheme. These initiatives of the government should help farmers in undertaking crop diversification.”
Mr. Modi released the amount in a virtual event and also interacted with farmers.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) General Secretary Arun Singh wrote a letter to party functionaries and listed a series of steps to ensure that the prime minister’s speech gets a wide viewership. The party made arrangements for farmers’ participation in more than 19,000 venues across the country.
Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Union minister Smriti Irani, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and state deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya were among the senior party leaders who attended the event. BJP chief JP Nadda had instructed all party MPs, MLAs and other leaders to tune in to the programme.
The first instalment of the PM-Kisan scheme was released by the PM in 2019.
Stay tuned for further updates.