Government made KCC enrolment cheaper, says top Agri ministry official

Earlier, farmers were supposed to pay ranging from Rs 2000 (US$ 29) to Rs 5000 (US$ 73). These charges were a major barrier for increasing enrolments for KCC. Thus, looking in the matter, government has decided to waive-off these charges for up to Rs 1.6 lakh (US$ 2,335) and levy only legal charges for amounts up to Rs 3 lakh (US$ 4,378). As of now, there are 14 crore farmers present and only half are enrolled for KCC. The centre and state government has launched an aggressive campaign to add 1 crore farmers for KCC by August 31.

The states have a wider role to play in helping farmers make farming a worthwhile endeavor. To help farmers the Centre has launched schemes like Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PMKisan) and budgetary allocations are already made.

PMKisan Vivek Aggarwal, so far 3.56 crore farmers have got the first instalment of the income subsidy, while 3.10 crore received the second. According to the official, only 43 per cent of Indian farmers have been enrolled for PMKisan out of which 60 per cent have already been paid. The payment to the rest will be made soon.

The State government officials are asked to make sure that 57 per cent of the farmers who are currently outside the ambit of PMKisan are enrolled at the earliest. If the States can enrol the farmers before July 31, the farmers would be able to get the next instalment.

While the States such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Haryana have made good progress in registering farmers in their States, many others are trailing much behind. For instance, while there are 1.63 crore farmers in Bihar are eligible for it, only 8.38 lakh farmers have been able to avail the benefit. The progress is also slow in the States like Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.