Chennai: Union railway minister Piyush Goyal said the Prime Minister's Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched on Sunday, coinciding with late Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa's birthday, is the biggest programme for farmers since Independence.
Asserting that the Centre and state governments have more concern for people, particularly farmers, Mr Goyal said both governments functioned like "double engines" to ensure double the progress. Mr Goyal launched the scheme in the city.
"As Thiru Panneerselvamji was saying, when the central and state government work together, we can see the speed of progress double," the Union minister said.
"The PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana is the largest scheme that India has ever launched since Independence. The Budget for this year has increased allocation to agriculture and agriculture activities to '1.41 lakh crore, which is several times higher than allotted during the UPA regime."
The first instalment of '2,000 was paid to farmers from Sunday and once in every four months the beneficiaries will get '2,000 and will continue for years.
Complimenting the state government under Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, for sending the first list of 20 lakh names of beneficiaries to Delhi, he said at the district panchayat level, the officials will make a list of left-out farmers.
Any farmer who has not opened a bank account or not obtained Aadhaaar number, should immediately open the account and get the Aadhaar number to join the scheme, he said. Also, the beneficiaries' list will be put up in the gram panchayat to ascertain if any name has been left out or needs to be included.
"Today the people of Tamil Nadu, particularly farmers, are grateful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for launching the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana programme, which will benefit over 12 crore farmers across the country and over 60 lakh farmers in Tamil Nadu. This scheme will benefit small and marginal farmers having upto five acres land and they would continue to get Rs 6,000 per annum,"
Mr Goyal said and explained that this scheme is not a favour to farmers but a mark of respect by the people of India to farmers for giving us food grains and making the country self-sufficient and free from begging.
Amma's birthday coincidence:
Stating that it was "a very happy coincidence" that the alliance between AIADMK, whose leader will always be Jayalalithaa, and the BJP was finalised on her birthday, Mr Goyal said Sunday's programme is being launched across India by Mr Modi on Amma's birthday.
"I would like to thank Mr Modi for launching it on Amma's birthday, which is a fitting tribute to Amma. It's also a mark of respect to our Annadatas," he said and requested the audience to stand up and applaud Jayalalithaa for her developmental initiatives. The audience responded with a thunderous applause.
The Union minister paid homage to two jawans from the state, Subramaniaa and Sivachandran, who were slain in the terror attack at Pulwama, and assured that the Centre would give a befitting reply to terrorism and those harbouring terrorism.
Hailing the scheme, the Chief Minister said it would benefit over 22 lakh small farmers from Tamil Nadu. About '277 crore has been set apart for implementing it, especially for the rollout of the first instalment of '2,000 to farmers.
Mr Panneerselvam said when the central and state governments work in synergy, conceive and effectively implement well thought-out programmes, the ultimate beneficiaries would be the people. He said the information technology infrastructure of the state enabled the smooth rollout of the Kisan plan, a "major path breaking scheme".
"The technology-enabled implementation mechanism ensures that identification of beneficiaries is error-free, delivery is speedy and there are no leakages," Mr Panneerselvam, who also holds the finance portfolio, said.
