[PM-KISAN excludes tenant farmers and landless labourers — critically evaluate its equity dimension.](/upsc-mains-answer/pm-kisan-excludes-tenant-farmers-landless-f1029d5)

Q. PM-KISAN excludes tenant farmers and landless labourers — critically evaluate its equity dimension. (15 marks, 250-350 words)

PM-KISAN, a 100% Central Sector Scheme, transfers ₹6,000 per year in three instalments through Aadhaar-seeded DBT to cultivable land-holding farmer families [2]. Its 23rd instalment moved ₹18,880 crore to 9.44 crore farmers [1] — impressive in scale, but its equity rests on a landholding gateway that leaves the poorest cultivators outside.

Equity strengths

• Vertical equity through exclusions: institutional landholders, income-tax payers, constitutional post-holders and government employees above Group D are barred, keeping the transfer with genuine cultivators [2].
• Universality within the class: the June 2019 expansion removed the 2-hectare cap, ending arbitrary discrimination among land-holding families [5].
• Gender inclusion: about 2.18 crore women farmers received the 23rd instalment as individual entitlement-holders [1].
• Leakage plugging: mandatory e-KYC and land-record seeding via PFMS–UIDAI–NPCI rails weeded out ineligible claimants, so benefits reach intended households [2][3].

Equity deficits

• Title, not tillage, is the test: tenants, sharecroppers and oral lessees bear cultivation cost and crop risk but receive nothing, since eligibility follows the land record [2].
• Landless agricultural labourers — the poorest agrarian group — are wholly outside; the scheme supports landownership rather than agrarian poverty.
• Uniform transfer: a flat ₹6,000 ignores differences in cultivation cost, agro-climatic distress and household size [2].
• Documentary barriers: unclear titles, unmutated inheritance and women cultivating without recorded ownership convert an administrative requirement into an exclusion [2].
• Eroding adequacy: the amount has stayed unchanged since 2018-19 even as coverage grew from 9.32 crore in March 2026 to 9.44 crore [4][1], diluting real income support.

On balance, PM-KISAN is efficient and largely leak-proof, yet its equity is procedural rather than substantive — fair among landowners, silent on the tiller. Digitised cultivator registries, adoption of the NITI Aayog Model Agricultural Land Leasing Act to give tenants recorded status, and convergence with MGNREGS for the landless would extend the scheme's reach. Aligning income support with the actual cultivator would make PM-KISAN a fuller expression of Article 39's mandate of equitable distribution of resources.

(~330 words)

Sources: 1. 23rd Instalment of PM-KISAN, PIB (20 June 2026) — ₹18,880 crore to 9.44 crore farmers, 2.18 crore women beneficiaries, ₹4.46 lakh crore cumulative 2. Eligibility Criteria of PM-KISAN, PIB — cultivable landholding as sole criterion, exclusion categories, ₹6,000 in three instalments, Aadhaar-seeded DBT and e-KYC 3. Implementation and Impact of PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, PIB — DBT delivery architecture and beneficiary verification 4. 22nd Instalment of PM-KISAN, PIB (13 March 2026) — ₹18,640 crore to 9.32 crore farmers 5. PM-KISAN extension to all eligible farmer families irrespective of land holding size, PIB — June 2019 removal of the 2-hectare ceiling