Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday that the government has disbursed Rs 18,253 crore under the PM-KISAN (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi) scheme during the ongoing lockdown. Under the PM-KISAN scheme, each farmer receives up to Rs 6,000 per year as minimum income support and the scheme is totally funded by the central government. The lockdown was imposed by the government on March 25 to stem the spread of Covid-19 disease and it has been extended twice till date.
Ms Sitharaman also said that about three crore farmers with agricultural loans totaling Rs 4,22,113 crore availed the benefit of the 3-month loan moratorium announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in March. The central bank, on March 27, had introduced moratorium on repayment of loan instalments on term loan repayments due between March 1 and May 31.
Since March 2020, 9.13 crore farmers have been paid Rs 18,253 crore under PM-KISAN during the #lockdown. About three crore farmers with agri loans totaling Rs 4,22,113 crore availed the benefit of the 3-month loan moratorium. @RBI @FinMinIndia @DFS_India @PIB_India
— NSitharamanOffice (@nsitharamanoffc) May 9, 2020
The Reserve Bank has already announced several steps to ease the pressure faced by borrowers, lenders and other entities including mutual funds and has promised to take more initiatives to deal with the developing situation.
The government had earlier unveiled a Rs 1.7 lakh crore package of free foodgrains and cash doles to the poor to deal with the situation.
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