Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to Release 24th Instalment of PM-KISAN tomorrow at Banaskantha, Gujarat

1. At a Glance

• PM-KISAN (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi) is the Centre's flagship unconditional income-support scheme for farmer families. It pays ₹6,000 a year in three equal instalments through DBT into Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts [2][3].
• The 24th instalment is more than ₹18,690 crore going to over 9.34 crore farmers. At the same event the PM will dedicate 521 Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) units and inaugurate 12 horticulture clusters [1].
• Why it matters for UPSC: it is a test case for DBT governance, the choice between income support and price or input subsidies, and the post-harvest infrastructure agenda. These map to GS-II (welfare schemes) and GS-III (farm subsidies, storage and marketing).

2. Why in the News

• PM releases the 24th instalment on 30 Oct 2026 at Banaskantha, Gujarat, alongside the AIF unit dedications and the horticulture cluster inaugurations [1].
• The 23rd instalment was released on 20 June 2026 from Tarakeswar, Hooghly (West Bengal) [6].
• Cabinet approved continuing PM-KISAN for 2026-27 to 2030-31, with an outlay of ₹3.15 lakh crore [4].

3. Background & Evolution

• 1 Feb 2019: announced in the Interim Budget 2019-20 [3].
• 24 Feb 2019: formally launched by the PM at Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh [2][3].
• Initial coverage: only small and marginal farmers (up to 2 ha) [3].
• From 1 June 2019: extended to all farmer families, whatever their landholding (exclusion criteria still apply) [3].
• Aug 2020: PM launched the ₹1 lakh crore AIF financing facility and released PM-KISAN benefits at the same event. This is the same pairing as the 2026 Banaskantha event [8].
• Aug 2024: AIF widened. NABSanrakshan added as a credit guarantee provider for FPOs, and convergence with PM-KUSUM Component-A allowed [10].
• March 2026: 22nd instalment released on 13 March. Cumulative disbursal stood at ₹4.27 lakh crore over 22 instalments [5][13].
• 20 June 2026: 23rd instalment released. Cumulative disbursal crossed ₹4.47 lakh crore [6][4][1].
• 31 July 2026: scheme continued to 2030-31 [4].
• 30 Oct 2026: 24th instalment at Banaskantha [1].

4. Core Static Facts

Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF)

• ₹1 lakh crore medium- to long-term debt financing facility for post-harvest management and community farming assets. Launched in Aug 2020 [8][9].
• Scheme duration: FY2020 to FY2029 [9].
• 3% a year interest subvention, available for up to 7 years [9][11].
• Credit guarantee on loans up to ₹2 crore under CGTMSE. NABSanrakshan covers FPOs [9][10].
• Uptake as of 26 Jan 2026: ₹80,224 crore sanctioned for 1,50,431 projects, mobilising ₹1,27,508 crore of investment [12].
• Uptake as of Oct 2026: about ₹1.75 lakh crore invested across more than 2.28 lakh projects [1].

5. Multi-Dimensional Analysis

Economic

• ₹3.15 lakh crore over five years works out to about ₹63,000 crore a year (derived from [4]). It is one of the largest single line items in the farm budget.
• Each instalment is about ₹18,700 crore. ₹18,690 crore ÷ 9.34 crore farmers ≈ ₹2,000 per farmer, which fits the design (derived from [1][3]).
• AIF pulls in private and cooperative investment in warehouses, cold storage and primary processing. That cuts post-harvest losses and distress sales and improves market access [1][12].
• The horticulture clusters push crop diversification into high-value crops [1].

Social

• Coverage is universal in landholding terms since June 2019 [3]. 2.18 crore women farmers were covered in the 23rd instalment [7].
• Because the scheme is tied to land records, tenant farmers, sharecroppers and landless agricultural labour are structurally left out. This is a standard Mains critique.

Governance / Administrative

• DBT removes intermediaries, so delivery is faster and more transparent [1].
• Beneficiary count has varied: 9.44 to 9.49 crore in the 23rd instalment against 9.34 crore in the 24th [1][4][6]. This points to ongoing verification (Aadhaar, land-record seeding) and removal of ineligible beneficiaries, and to differences between pre-release and actual payout figures.
• Federal role: States verify and upload beneficiary data, and the Centre funds and transfers the money. This is a centrally funded scheme that depends on State land records.

Environmental / Sustainability

• The same set of measures includes the National Mission on Natural Farming, which develops clusters across the country [1].
• AIF can converge with PM-KUSUM-A, which supports solar power on farms [10].

Strategic (food and nutrition security)

• The National Mission on Edible Oils and the Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses aim to cut import dependence for oilseeds and pulses [1].

6. Recent Developments (last 12-18 months)

• 3 Feb 2026: PIB AIF update: ₹80,224 crore sanctioned for 1.5 lakh projects [12].
• 13 Mar 2026: 22nd instalment released. Cumulative ₹4.27 lakh crore [13][5].
• 20 Jun 2026: 23rd instalment released from Tarakeswar, Hooghly (WB) [6].
• 31 Jul 2026: Cabinet extends PM-KISAN to 2030-31 with ₹3.15 lakh crore [4].
• 30 Oct 2026: 24th instalment from Banaskantha (Gujarat), plus 521 AIF units and 12 horticulture clusters [1].

7. Prelims Hooks

• PM-KISAN was announced in the Interim Budget 2019-20 (1 Feb 2019) [3].
• It was launched on 24 Feb 2019 at Gorakhpur, UP [2][3].
• It pays ₹6,000 a year in three equal instalments of ₹2,000 [3].
• Payment goes by DBT to Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts [3].
• At first it was limited to farmers holding up to 2 ha. It was made universal from 1 June 2019 [3].
• Implementing ministry: Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare [1].
• Continuation period: 2026-27 to 2030-31, outlay ₹3.15 lakh crore [4].
• 23rd instalment: Tarakeswar, Hooghly (WB), 20 June 2026 [6].
• 24th instalment: Banaskantha (Gujarat), 30 Oct 2026, more than ₹18,690 crore to over 9.34 crore farmers [1].
• Cumulative transfers through 23 instalments: more than ₹4.47 lakh crore [1].
• AIF is a ₹1 lakh crore financing facility launched in Aug 2020, running FY2020 to FY2029 [8][9].
• AIF gives 3% interest subvention for up to 7 years and a CGTMSE guarantee on loans up to ₹2 crore [9][11].
• NABSanrakshan gives credit guarantees to FPOs under AIF, added in 2024 [10].
• AIF can converge with PM-KUSUM Component-A [10].

8. Who the Scheme Leaves Out: Tenants, Sharecroppers, Landless Workers

• Being a farmer is not enough to qualify. You must own land on paper.
• Beneficiaries are identified from State land-ownership records [20].

• So a person who farms someone else's land gets nothing. The landowner, who may not farm at all, gets the money.

• This leaves out a very large group

• In 2011, landless agricultural labourers were about 55% of all agricultural workers. PM-KISAN does not cover them [17].

• A World Bank note on land leasing estimates that up to 2.98 lakh landless tenant farmers are left out, along with most single women farmers and others whose names are not in land records [18].

• Women are hit hardest because land is usually in a man's name

• The 2.18 crore women covered in the 23rd instalment [7] are counted from land records.

• A woman who farms land owned by her husband or father does not appear in those records [18].

• The government has said no change is planned

• The Standing Committee on Agriculture (2020) asked the Centre to work with States to cover landless and tenant farmers [16].

• The Ministry told Rajya Sabha that there is no proposal under consideration to extend the scheme to tenant farmers [20].

• Other schemes already reach tenants, so the land-record rule is a choice

• The Kisan Credit Card (KCC) covers tenant farmers, oral lessees (people who rent land on a spoken agreement, with no written lease) and sharecroppers [21].
• The Ministry that refuses to pay tenants under PM-KISAN already gives them loans under KCC.

9. The Case for Land Records — and Where It Stops Holding

• The strongest argument for the current design: land records can be checked
• Payment needs land seeding (linking the land record to the beneficiary), Aadhaar-based payment and e-KYC (identity checked online through Aadhaar) [14].

• A tenancy agreement made by word of mouth leaves no record. Without a record, it is hard to stop fake claims.

• This concern is real. Odisha's own experience shows it

• The baseline study for Odisha's KALIA scheme warned that identifying sharecroppers would be difficult [18].

• So the Centre is right that paying tenants is harder than paying owners.

• But "hard" is not the same as "impossible"

• KALIA did include sharecroppers and landless households, and it reached more vulnerable groups than other DBT schemes [18].

• KCC already identifies tenants and sharecroppers for loans [21].

• Honest conclusion

• The land-record rule cuts down one error: paying people who should not get money.
• It raises another: leaving out people who should get money. A Mains answer should name both errors, not just one.

10. Why Wrong People Still Get Paid and the Money Rarely Comes Back

• For years, eligibility rested on the farmer's own word
• In Bihar, the CAG found 48,366 income tax payers among registered beneficiaries. They received ₹39.05 crore [15].

• The State had no system to check farmers' self-declaration (a farmer's own written statement) about paying income tax [15].

• Recovery is slow, because the job is left to the States

• States must recover money paid to ineligible people such as income tax payers, government and PSU employees, and holders of constitutional posts [14].
• In Bihar, only ₹5 crore, about 8% of the wrongly paid amount, had been recovered at the time of audit [15].

• Across India, about ₹416.75 crore had been recovered by December 2025 [14].

• The fix came later: linking data automatically

• The scheme now links with PFMS (the Centre's payment-tracking system), UIDAI (the Aadhaar authority) and the Income Tax Department [14].

• Farmers who did not complete land seeding and e-KYC had their payments stopped [14].

• How to read the falling beneficiary count

• Part of the fall from about 9.44 crore to 9.34 crore [1][6] may be ineligible names being removed.
• But the same rule also stops a genuine small farmer whose land record or Aadhaar is not yet linked. The numbers released do not show how many of each kind were removed.

11. ₹6,000 a Year Has Not Changed Since 2019

• The amount is the same as in 2019
• The benefit has stayed at ₹6,000 a year since the scheme began [16].

• Prices have kept rising, so each ₹2,000 instalment buys less seed, fertiliser or diesel every year.

• The total cost is still large

• The 2026-27 allocation is ₹63,500 crore [16].

• That money is spread thinly: about ₹500 a month per family.

• This is why the AIF link matters

• ₹2,000 per instalment can help with the next sowing. It cannot pay for a warehouse or cold storage.
• Loans backed by the AIF are meant to cover that [9]. The two schemes do different jobs, and neither can do the other's.

12. What Should Change, and Who Should Do It

• States should record tenancy so tenants can be paid
• The Standing Committee on Agriculture (2020) asked the Centre to work with States to extend benefits to landless and tenant farmers [16].

• KCC already identifies tenants and sharecroppers [21]. Those lists could be a starting point.

• Learn from Odisha's KALIA

• KALIA pays cultivators ₹10,000 a year across two crop seasons, and gives a separate ₹12,500 livelihood support to landless agricultural households [19].

• It reached sharecroppers better than other DBT schemes [18]. That shows two separate support streams, one for cultivators and one for the landless, can work.

• The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare should keep income checks automatic

• The Bihar audit failed because self-declarations were not checked [15].

• The Income Tax and UIDAI links [14] should run before every instalment, not only after money is paid.

• The Centre should review the ₹6,000 amount

• It has not changed since inception [16]. A regular review would stop its value falling quietly year after year.

13. Anchors for Answers

• Data: Landless agricultural labourers were about 55% of agricultural workers in 2011. PM-KISAN does not cover them [17]
• Data: About ₹416.75 crore recovered from ineligible beneficiaries nationwide by Dec 2025 [14]
• Data: 2026-27 allocation is ₹63,500 crore. The benefit has stayed at ₹6,000 since 2019 [16]
• Report/Committee: Standing Committee on Agriculture (2020): extend PM-KISAN to landless and tenant farmers [16]. CAG Report No. 5 of 2022 (Bihar): 48,366 income tax payers paid ₹39.05 crore, only about 8% recovered [15]
• Comparison: Odisha's KALIA covers sharecroppers and landless households, with ₹12,500 livelihood support for the landless [18][19]
• Scheme: Kisan Credit Card already covers tenant farmers, oral lessees and sharecroppers. This shows tenants can be identified [21]

14. Mains Relevance

• GS-II: Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections; government policies and interventions; e-governance (DBT).
• GS-III: Direct and indirect farm subsidies; storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce; food processing; inclusive growth.
• Question stems: 1. "Unconditional income support like PM-KISAN is a more efficient instrument than input subsidies for Indian agriculture." Critically examine. 2. "Income support without post-harvest infrastructure only treats symptoms." Discuss with reference to PM-KISAN and the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund. 3. Evaluate the role of DBT in reducing leakages in farm welfare delivery. What gaps remain for tenant and landless cultivators?

15. Related Topics to Study Next

• Agriculture Infrastructure Fund: this event is paired with AIF, as the 2020 launch was [1][8].
• PM Fasal Bima Yojana: covers risk protection, where PM-KISAN covers income support [1].
• Kisan Credit Card and Modified Interest Subvention Scheme: the credit leg of farmer support [1].
• MSP and price-support schemes: the contrast between price support and income support [1].
• National Mission on Natural Farming: the sustainability strand of the same package [1].
• National Mission on Edible Oils and Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses: import substitution in oilseeds and pulses [1].
• PM-KUSUM: converges with AIF [10].
• DBT and the JAM trinity: the delivery architecture behind PM-KISAN [3].

16. NCERT Concepts to Revise

• Direct income support (Economy): PM-KISAN is a cash transfer decoupled from production; the note contrasts it with price and input subsidies.
• JAM trinity (Polity): Jan Dhan accounts, Aadhaar and mobile form the DBT delivery system behind PM-KISAN payments.
• Tenancy (Economy): Tenant farmers and sharecroppers are excluded because payment follows land-ownership records, a central Mains critique.
• Kisan Credit Card (Economy): KCC already identifies tenants and sharecroppers, showing that excluding them from PM-KISAN is a policy choice.
• Interest subvention (Economy): The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund works through a 3% interest subvention on loans.
• Post-harvest losses (Economy): The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund targets these losses through warehouses and cold storage, supporting the income-support argument.

17. Common Errors / Trap Areas

• Launch venue and date: launched at Gorakhpur on 24 Feb 2019, but announced on 1 Feb 2019 in the Interim Budget. Do not swap the two [2][3].
• "Only small and marginal farmers": this has been outdated since 1 June 2019. The scheme now covers all landholding families, subject to exclusions [3].
• The figure is ₹6,000 a year, not ₹6,000 per instalment. Each instalment is ₹2,000 [3].
• AIF is a financing facility, not a grant. It works through interest subvention and credit guarantees on bank loans [9].
• Instalment figures vary by source. Pre-release, backgrounder and Cabinet numbers differ (e.g. 23rd: 9.44 vs 9.49 crore). The 24th has fewer beneficiaries (9.34 crore) than the 23rd. Prefer the latest official figure [1][4][6].