CHANDIGARH: Punjab has recorded the steepest fall in the country in the number of beneficiaries under the PM-Kisan scheme, with figures dropping by nearly 49 per cent over the past five years.
Beneficiaries fell from 23.01 lakh between December 2019 and March 2020, the highest-ever recorded in the state when farmers received Rs 466.47 crore, to just 11.34 lakh between April and July 2025, who received Rs 387.76 crore.
Recently, in reply to an unstarred question raised by Congress MP from Ludhiana, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Ram Nath Thakur stated that in the financial year 2025-26, Rs 63,500 crore had been allocated for the PM-Kisan scheme.
“The 20th instalment of the PM-Kisan scheme was released on August 2, 2025 and more than 9.71 crore beneficiaries received benefits amounting to more than Rs 20,500 crore. Out of this, more than 11.34 lakh beneficiaries from Punjab received the benefit amounting to Rs 387.76 crore,” the reply stated.
It added that a farmer-centric digital infrastructure has ensured the benefits of the scheme reach all farmers across the country without the involvement of intermediaries.
“Maintaining absolute transparency in registering and verifying beneficiaries, the Government of India has disbursed over Rs 3.90 lakh crore through 20 instalments since the inception of the scheme,” it noted.
The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare informed Parliament that the instalment-wise details of benefits released to Punjab beneficiaries since inception were as follows: in the first instalment (December 2018 to March 2019) 11.81 lakh beneficiaries received Rs 236.39 crore, which rose to 14.11 lakh in the second instalment (April to July 2019) with Rs 312.85 crore disbursed.
The number further increased to 22.21 lakh in the third instalment, with farmers receiving Rs 483.42 crore. Punjab’s all-time high came in the fourth instalment (December 2019 to March 2020) when 23.01 lakh beneficiaries received Rs 466.47 crore.
Since then, the numbers have consistently declined. In the fifth instalment (April to July 2020), the figure dropped to 19.01 lakh with Rs 417.89 crore. In the eleventh instalment (April to July 2022), there were 16.97 lakh beneficiaries who received Rs 340.95 crore. Interestingly, in the twelfth instalment (August to November 2022), the number fell to the lowest ever in the state, at just 2,07,564 beneficiaries receiving Rs 41.87 crore.
By the nineteenth instalment (December 2024 to March 2025), only 10.58 lakh farmers benefited, receiving Rs 373.04 crore, and in the latest twentieth instalment (April to July 2025), 11.34 lakh farmers received Rs 387.76 crore.
“The PM-Kisan scheme is a central sector scheme launched in February 2019 by the Prime Minister to supplement the financial needs of farmers with cultivable landholding. Under the scheme, a financial benefit of Rs 6,000 per year is transferred in three equal instalments into Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts of farmers through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode. To ensure that the benefits are provided only to eligible beneficiaries, land seeding, Aadhaar-based payment and e-KYC have been made mandatory under the scheme,” the reply further stated.
It added, “Land seeding was made mandatory during the release of the 12th instalment of the scheme (August 2022 - November 2022), and Aadhaar-based payment was made mandatory from the 13th instalment (December 2022 - March 2023) onwards. E-KYC was made mandatory from the 15th instalment (April 2023 - July 2023). In this process, the total number of beneficiaries who benefited in the scheme in the 12th instalment period was temporarily reduced across the states. This decrease was nominal in the states who proactively undertook suitable measures and completed the above said mandatory requirements.”
“The benefits of the farmers, who do not complete these mandatory criteria, are temporarily stopped. As and when these farmers complete their mandatory requirements, they receive the benefits of the scheme along with their accrued benefits of previous instalments. This process does not cause any financial loss to eligible farmers under the scheme,” it clarified.
The ministry stated, “Benefit of the PM-Kisan scheme is transferred to the beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode, based on the verified data received from the States/UTs on the PM-Kisan portal.
To ease the registration process for farmers and bring in transparency and efficiency in implementation of the scheme, several technological interventions were introduced, including integration with PFMS, UIDAI, and the Income Tax Department. Further, the PM-Kisan database is verified with respect to the PDS database of ration cards, inactivated Aadhaar due to death, etc. as updated in UIDAI portal, and de-duplication with PFMS and income tax data.”
However, the deletion of such a large number of beneficiaries has not gone down well with leaders of farmer unions, who are already at loggerheads with the Centre over the alleged non-fulfilment of their demands. BKU (Lakhowal Group) president Harinder Singh Lakhowal said this was a clear indication of the central government’s “stepmotherly treatment” towards Punjab’s farmers. “As the Centre has earlier stopped the Rural Development Fund to the state, now it is not willing to give financial aid to Punjab’s farmers,” he added.