NEW DELHI: Amid the ongoing farmers' agitation against the recently enacted Central farm laws, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release the next instalment of financial benefit amounting to Rs 18,000 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) on December 25.
The Prime Minister will release the amount at 12 noon on Friday via video conferencing even as the farmers' protests entered the 28th day on Wednesday.
This will be the 7th instalment under the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme — a direct transfer scheme for the farmers.
The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) confirmed that Modi will transfer more than Rs 18,000 crore to over nine crore beneficiary farmer families with the push of a button.
The Prime Minister will also have a conversation with the farmers from six different states during the event, the PMO statement said.
The farmers will share their experiences with the PM-KISAN scheme and also on various other initiatives taken by the government for the welfare of the farmers. Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar will also be present on the occasion.
The PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme was launched in February last year. It is a Central scheme with 100 per cent funding from the Central government. Under the PM-KISAN scheme, a financial benefit of Rs 6,000 per year is provided to the eligible beneficiary farmers, payable in three equal four-monthly instalments of Rs 2,000 each.
The income support is being provided to small and marginal farmer families having combined land holding or ownership of up to 2 hectares. The state governments and UT administrations will identify the farmer families which are eligible for support as per the scheme guidelines.
The amount is directly transferred into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries through the direct benefit transfer (DBT) mode.
Since November 26, thousands of farmers are protesting against the Central farm laws on Delhi's interstate borders at Singhu, Tikri, Ghazipur and Chilla on the Delhi-Ambala, Delhi-Hisar, Delhi-Ghaziabad and Delhi-Noida routes, respectively. (IANS)