- Why in news
- On 30 October 2026, the 24th PM-KISAN instalment was released from Banaskantha, Gujarat, sending about ₹18,690 crore to over 9.34 crore farmers. The Cabinet had approved the scheme's continuation to 2030-31 in July 2026.
- What it is
- PM-KISAN (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi) is an income support scheme for landholding farmer families, launched on 24 February 2019. It gives ₹6,000 a year in three equal instalments of ₹2,000 through Direct Benefit Transfer to Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts. It is a Central Sector scheme fully funded by the Centre, with States identifying beneficiaries.
- Who identifies beneficiaries
- State Governments identify eligible farmer households and build the beneficiary database.
- Exclusions and recovery
- Income tax payers, government employees, PSU personnel and holders of constitutional posts are ineligible; recovery is done from them.
- Monitoring
- The national-level review mechanism is chaired by the Cabinet Secretary, with State and District Monitoring Committees below it.
- Cumulative disbursal
- More than ₹4.47 lakh crore was disbursed through the first 23 instalments.
- Mode of payment
- Support reaches eligible farmer families through Direct Benefit Transfer.
- Agriculture Infrastructure Fund
- Under the AIF, about ₹1.75 lakh crore has been invested across more than 2.28 lakh projects.
- Scheme type and funding
- PM-KISAN is a Central Sector scheme, fully funded by the Centre. It pays ₹6,000 a year in three instalments.
- Benefit
- Eligible landholding farmer families get Rs.6,000 a year in three equal instalments, paid into bank accounts.
- Launch
- The scheme was launched in February 2019.
- Disbursal so far
- Over Rs.4.47 lakh crore has been transferred through 23 instalments.
- Women beneficiaries
- Women farmers received over Rs.1.06 lakh crore, nearly one in four beneficiaries.
- Funding
- PM-KISAN is a Central Sector scheme, funded 100% by the Centre.
- Cumulative payout
- Total disbursement since the 24 February 2019 launch will exceed Rs 4.46 lakh crore.
- Funding and type
- PM-KISAN is a Central Sector scheme, fully funded by the Centre. It pays Rs 6,000 a year in three instalments by DBT.
- Payment
- Each eligible family gets ₹6,000 a year in three equal instalments of ₹2,000, paid into Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts.
- Role of States
- States identify eligible households and build the beneficiary database. They must also start recovery where ineligible people were paid.
- Budget 2026-27
- The Union Budget 2026-27 allocated ₹60,000 crore to the scheme.
- Voluntary Surrender
- A facility lets affluent farmers give up the benefit; accounts surrendered by mistake can be reactivated.
Don’t confuse with Central Sector vs Centrally Sponsored: Central Sector schemes are 100% Centre-funded; Centrally Sponsored schemes share costs with States. The release calls PM-KISAN centrally sponsored, but it is a Central Sector scheme.
Don’t confuse with PM-KISAN vs PM Fasal Bima Yojana: PM-KISAN gives income support. PMFBY is crop insurance for risk protection.
Don’t confuse with PM-KISAN vs PMFBY: PM-KISAN is cash income support; PMFBY is crop insurance against losses.
Schemes: 52 Prelims questions since 2013, 10 in Prelims 2026 alone. They test features, the period and who funds it. In Mains, 33 news-triggered questions, mostly GS3.
Why it matters
- Gives small and marginal farmers assured cash for inputs, reducing reliance on informal credit.
- DBT with Aadhaar and e-KYC cuts leakages and intermediaries.
- Gives small farmers a predictable cash income through DBT, without middlemen.
- Gives assured, direct income support to small and marginal farmers and reduces dependence on informal credit.
- Shows DBT with Aadhaar-based verification can cut leakages.
- Assured, direct income support reduces reliance on informal credit and helps buy inputs.
- DBT removes intermediaries and cuts leakage.
- Regular DBT gives small farmers assured cash for inputs and cuts leakages.
- Launching insurance, AgriStack and natural farming alongside builds a wider support system for farmers.
- Direct cash transfer eases farmers' liquidity constraints and cuts reliance on informal credit.
- Aadhaar-linked DBT lowers leakage and removes intermediaries.
- Gives assured income support to small and marginal farmers and boosts rural demand.
- DBT through digital infrastructure cuts leakages and middlemen.
Problems
- Exclusion of tenant farmers and sharecroppers, since it is tied to land records.
- Ineligible payments needed recovery (₹416.75 crore as of December 2025); land record and Aadhaar-seeding gaps persist.
- Keeping the beneficiary list accurate and excluding ineligible people, and leaving out tenant farmers who hold no land records.
- Tenant farmers and sharecroppers without land records are left out.
- Fixed Rs.6,000 has not kept pace with input costs and inflation.
- Exclusion of tenant farmers and landless labourers, since the scheme depends on land records.
- Ineligible payments to tax payers and others need recovery.
- Tenant and landless farmers are left out because eligibility depends on land records.
- Outdated land records and eKYC or Aadhaar mismatches cause exclusions.
- Tenant farmers and landless labourers are excluded because eligibility rests on land records.
- Outdated land records, Aadhaar-bank mismatches and ineligible payments, with ₹416.75 crore recovered so far, hurt targeting.
- Exclusion of eligible farmers, such as tenant farmers, and errors in land records and e-KYC.
- Ineligible or deceased beneficiaries need continuous weeding out.
Way forward
- Digitise and update land records and include tenant cultivators.
- Strengthen State verification and grievance redressal.
- Digitise and update land records and link them to the beneficiary database to improve targeting and include tenant farmers.
- Clean and digitise land records to include tenant farmers.
- Review the amount periodically and target it better.
- Complete land-record and Aadhaar seeding, and integrate with AgriStack.
- Strengthen verification and grievance redressal to reduce errors.
- Digitise land records and link them with AgriStack to improve targeting.
- Pair income support with insurance, credit and input reforms.
- Update and digitise land records and extend coverage to tenant farmers.
- Strengthen e-KYC and database checks to prevent duplicate and ineligible payments.
- Complete land-record digitisation and e-KYC to reach 100% saturation.
- Use periodic verification to remove ineligible entries.
Put in your answer
Cumulative disbursement: Over ₹4.64 lakh crore has gone to farmers through 24 instalments.
Recoveries from ineligible: ₹416.75 crore recovered from ineligible beneficiaries as of December 2025.
Cumulative PM-KISAN disbursal: More than ₹4.47 lakh crore was disbursed through 23 instalments.
AIF investments: About ₹1.75 lakh crore invested across over 2.28 lakh projects to cut post-harvest losses.
Cumulative transfers: Over Rs.4.47 lakh crore sent to farmers through 23 instalments.
Use of funds: DMEO found over 92% of beneficiaries used the money for agriculture.
Recovery from ineligible: ₹416.75 crore recovered from ineligible beneficiaries as of December 2025.
PM-KISAN scale: Cumulative payouts will exceed Rs 4.46 lakh crore since 2019. Use this to show the scheme's reach.
AgriStack: AgriStack is a unified digital platform for fertiliser distribution, Kisan Credit Cards, DBT and MSP procurement. It is part of the Digital Agriculture Mission.
Cumulative disbursal: More than ₹4.27 lakh crore has been disbursed since launch, making it one of the world's largest DBT initiatives.
NITI Aayog evaluation: Nearly 85 percent of beneficiaries reported better farm income and less reliance on informal credit.
Women beneficiaries: Over 2.15 crore women farmers receive the 22nd instalment.
- 2018Mains GS3 · Q3Define MSP and explain how it rescues farmers from low income trap
- 2026Mains GS3 · Q14Types of agricultural subsidies and supports; WTO AoA related issues.
- 2013Mains GS3 · Q5Types of national and state farm subsidies; distortions they create.
- 2015Mains GS3 · Q5Replacing price subsidy with DBT: how it changes subsidy scenario
- 2023Mains GS3 · Q14Direct and indirect farm subsidies in India; WTO issues on subsidies.
- 2017Prelims Q43Consequence of UPI; direct subsidy transfer to poor becomes effective.
UPSC’s own questions that come close to this issue, from our Prelims and Mains banks.
Prelims practice · Statements
Ours, not from a UPSC paper
Consider the following statements:
- 1.Under PM-KISAN, State Governments are responsible for identifying eligible farmer households and preparing the beneficiary database.
- 2.The national-level review mechanism of PM-KISAN is chaired by the Union Agriculture Minister.
- 3.Income tax payers and holders of constitutional posts are among those ineligible for PM-KISAN benefits.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
True or false?
1 of 32
Statements the way Prelims prints them. Say first, then see the fact.
1.Under PM-KISAN, State Governments are responsible for identifying eligible farmer households and preparing the beneficiary database.
True. States identify beneficiaries and keep the database.
2.The national-level review of PM-KISAN is chaired by the Union Agriculture Minister.
False. It is chaired by the Cabinet Secretary.
3.Income tax payers and holders of constitutional posts are among those ineligible for PM-KISAN benefits.
True. These groups are excluded and recovery is made from them.
4.Kisan-eMitra, the PM-KISAN chatbot, was developed with technical support from the EkStep Foundation and BHASHINI.
True. EkStep Foundation and BHASHINI supported it.
5.PM-KISAN is a Central Sector scheme funded fully by the Union Government.
True. It is a Central Sector scheme with 100% Central funding.
6.Under PM-KISAN, eligible farmer families get ₹6,000 a year in three equal instalments.
True. ₹6,000 a year in three equal instalments.
7.PM-KISAN money is paid through Direct Benefit Transfer to bank accounts.
True. The scheme pays through DBT.
8.PM-KISAN was launched in 2019.
True. It was launched in February 2019.
9.PM-KISAN cost-shares its funding between the Centre and States in a 60:40 ratio.
False. It is fully funded by the Centre; there is no cost sharing.
10.PM-KISAN pays ₹6,000 a year in four quarterly instalments.
False. It pays in three equal instalments.
11.Through the first 23 instalments, PM-KISAN had disbursed more than ₹4.47 lakh crore.
True. More than ₹4.47 lakh crore was disbursed.
12.The scheme is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, implemented by State governments with the Centre's share.
False. It is a Central Sector scheme.
13.PM-KISAN provides Rs.6,000 per year to eligible landholding farmer families in three equal instalments.
True. Rs.6,000 a year in three equal instalments.
14.PM-KISAN was launched in February 2019.
True. Launched in February 2019.
15.PM-KISAN is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme in which States share the cost with the Centre.
False. It is a Central Sector scheme, fully funded by the Centre.
16.The money under the scheme is transferred through the Direct Benefit Transfer system.
True. Payments go via DBT into bank accounts.
17.Roughly half of the beneficiaries of PM-KISAN are women farmers.
False. Nearly one in four beneficiaries is a woman farmer.
18.The evaluation of the scheme's impact cited in the release was conducted by the Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office of NITI Aayog.
True. DMEO of NITI Aayog conducted the evaluation.
19.The scheme was launched in February 2019.
True. Launched on 24 February 2019.
20.State Governments are responsible for identifying eligible farmer households under PM-KISAN.
True. States identify beneficiaries and maintain the database.
21.Income tax payers and government employees are among those ineligible, and amounts paid to them are subject to recovery.
True. Recovery proceedings cover such ineligible beneficiaries.
22.Kisan-eMitra, the AI chatbot linked to PM-KISAN, was developed with technical support from the EkStep Foundation and BHASHINI.
True. EkStep Foundation and BHASHINI supported its development.
23.Funds under PM-KISAN are transferred to farmers through the state cooperative banks only, without use of PFMS or NPCI.
False. Data goes to PFMS and payments are processed via sponsor banks and NPCI into farmers' accounts.
24.Under PM-KISAN, each eligible farmer family receives ₹6,000 a year in three equal instalments of ₹2,000.
True. ₹6,000 a year in three instalments of ₹2,000.
25.Beneficiary identification under PM-KISAN is done by the Central Government through the PM-KISAN portal, without any role for States.
False. State Governments identify eligible households and build the beneficiary database from State land records.
26.The national-level review of PM-KISAN is chaired by the Cabinet Secretary.
True. The Cabinet Secretary chairs the national review mechanism.
27.Under PM-KISAN, States and Union Territories must initiate recovery of benefits paid to ineligible persons such as income tax payers and government employees.
True. States and UTs must start recovery where ineligible persons received benefits.
28.PM-KISAN provides Rs 6,000 a year to each eligible farmer family in three equal instalments.
True. Rs 6,000 a year in three equal instalments.
29.Benefits under PM-KISAN are transferred through Direct Benefit Transfer to beneficiaries' bank accounts.
True. Payment is by DBT to bank accounts.
30.The PM-KISAN portal's Know Your Status module lets beneficiaries check payment status, Aadhaar linking and e-KYC status.
True. KYS shows payment, eligibility, land seeding, Aadhaar and e-KYC status.
31.The face-authentication e-KYC app under PM-KISAN requires an OTP or a biometric device.
False. It lets farmers complete e-KYC without an OTP or biometric device.
32.The Voluntary Surrender facility under PM-KISAN is meant for affluent farmers.
True. It is for affluent farmers to give up the benefit.
Written by us from the release, not by UPSC; checked by a second model.
Worth revising until Prelims 2028: most news questions come within two years of the event.