Around 7.8 million farmers in the country, who are deprived of PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi, have the opportunity to get e-KYC done. The Ministry of Agriculture has launched a 10-day nationwide campaign from February 12 to 21 to enable farmers get e-KYC through Common Service Centres.
According to the agriculture ministry, there are some 7.8 million farmers whose e-KYCs are pending. They are eligible to receive Rs 6,000 per annum from the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi.
With e-KYC, these farmers will become eligible for the PM-Kisan scheme. The 16th installment of PM-Kisan Yojana is due to reach farmers' accounts by the end of February. If the beneficiary farmers complete their e-KYC before February 21, they can get the next installment.
In this regard, Union Agriculture Secretary Manoj Ahuja has written to the principal secretaries of the states urging all eligible farmers to get e-KYC for PM-Kisan scheme before February 21.
They have been asked to give wide publicity to the e-KYC campaign and hold special meetings in villages to create awareness among farmers. During the campaign, Village Level Nodal Officers will identify beneficiary farmers who have missed out e-KYC.
About the campaign, Sanjay Rakesh, Managing Director and CEO, Common Services Center (CSC) Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), said that some farmers are still not getting their PM-Farmer installments. There are two major reasons for this. First, the lack of e-KYC and second, the bank account is not linked to Aadhaar. "We are running a special campaign from February 12 to 21 for both these problems," he said.
Through this campaign, CSC entrepreneurs will set up camps in villages to solve people's problems. Besides, if any beneficiary is deprived of the 15th installment of PM-Kisan scheme, he will get the old installment money after getting their problems resolved in the camp.
Thanks to the vast network of CSCs present in remote areas of the country, various services are already being provided to farmers through tele-consultation, crop insurance, e-veterinary, farmer credit card and PM farmer schemes.
For the e-KYC campaign started through Common Service Centers from February 12, meetings have been held with CSC officials at state and district levels and instructions have been given to identify the beneficiary farmers and conduct their e-KYC.