About the scheme

• Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) is a Central Sector Scheme with 100% funding from Government of India.
• Aim : To augment the income of the farmers by providing income support to all landholding farmers’ families across the country.
• The Scheme initially provided income support to all Small and Marginal Farmers’ families across the country, holding cultivable land upto 2 hectares. Its ambit was later expanded in 2019 to cover all farmer families in the country irrespective of the size of their land holdings. 
• Under the Scheme an amount of Rs. 6000/- per year is transferred in three 4-monthly installments of Rs. 2000/- directly into the bank accounts of the farmers, subject to certain exclusion criteria relating to higher income status.
• Excluded from the scheme
  • Institutional land holders,
  • Farmer families holding constitutional posts,
  • Serving or retired officers and employees of state/central government as well as PSUs and government autonomous bodies.
  • Professionals like doctors, engineers and lawyers as well as retired pensioners with a monthly pension of over Rs 10,000 and those who paid income tax in the last assessment year.
• Identification of beneficiaries: The responsibility of identifying the eligible beneficiary farmers and uploading their data on PM-KISAN portal lies entirely with the state governments.

Why in News?

• Union Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare has launched AI Chatbot for the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme.
• The AI Chatbot launch marks a significant step towards enhancing the efficiency and reach of the PM-KISAN scheme, and also providing farmers prompt, clear, and accurate responses to their queries.

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1959461