News Brief
PM Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday (5 October) disbursed Rs 20,000 crore as the 18th instalment of the PM-KISAN scheme, benefitting more than 9.4 crore farmers nationwide.
PM Modi released the PM-KISAN funds during his visit to Washim in Maharashtra.
With the release of 18th instalment, the total funds released to farmers under PM-KISAN have reached Rs 3.45 lakh crore.
Launched in 2019, the PM-KISAN scheme provides Rs 6,000 annually to landholding farmers in three equal instalments.
As part of the 18th instalment of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme, around 91.5 lakh farmers in Maharashtra received over Rs 1,900 crore in direct financial assistance.
Maharashtra ranks second in the country for the highest disbursement under the scheme, with around Rs 32,000 crore transferred to 1.2 crore farmers across previous 17 instalments.
Additionally, Prime Minister Modi also released the additional benefit of around Rs 2,000 crore to the farmers of the Maharashtra under the fifth instalment of the Namo Shetkari Mahasanman Nidhi Yojana
This comes as Assembly elections are slated in Maharashtra in the coming months.
At the event, PM Modi also launched the Unified Genomic Chip for cattle and indigenous sex-sorted semen technology.
This initiative aims to increase availability of sex sorted semen at affordable price to farmers and reduce the cost by around Rs 200 per dose.
Unified Genomic Chip, GAUCHIP for indigenous cattle and MAHISHCHIP for buffaloes, have been developed along with genotyping services.
With the implementation of genomic selection, young high-quality bulls can be identified at an early age.
Additionally, five solar parks with a capacity of 19 MW were dedicated under the MSKVY 2.0 scheme to provide daytime electricity to farmers.
The Prime Minister also inaugurated 9,200 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) and e-distributed awards for 3,000 MW under the KUSUM-C scheme.