Aadhaar seeding norms for PM-Kisan relaxed for beneficiaries of Assam, Meghalaya, J&K, Ladakh

Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal to relax the mandatory requirement of Aadhaar data seeding for beneficiaries of Assam, Meghalaya and Union Territories (UTs) of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh for release of benefits to them under PM-Kisan Scheme up to March 31, 2021.

The decision in this regard was taken at a meeting of the Union cabinet, which was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

From 1st December 1, 2019, the release of benefits was made only through Aadhaar seeded data of beneficiaries uploaded by the State and UT Governments on the PM-KISAN portal, except in case of the States of Assam and Meghalaya and the UTs of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, which have been given exemption from this requirement till March 31, 2020, as Aadhaar penetration there has been minuscule, the government said in an official release.

The government in an official statement said, "It has been assessed that it would take much more time for the States of Assam and Meghalaya and the UTs of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh to complete the work of Aadhaar seeding of data of beneficiaries and the beneficiaries of these States / UTs may not be able to avail the benefits of the Scheme from April 1, 2020, onwards, if the relaxation from the mandatory requirement of Aadhaar seeding of data is not extended."

The total number of beneficiary farmers in these States and UTs who have been paid at least one instalment as on April 8, 2020, is 27,09,586 beneficiaries in Assam, 98,915 beneficiaries in Meghalaya and 10,01,668 beneficiaries in Jammu and Kashmir including Ladakh.

The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 24, 2019, aims to provide income support to all landholder farmer families across the country with cultivable land, subject to certain exclusions. Under the Scheme, an amount of Rs 6,000 per year is released in three 4-monthly instalments of Rs 2,000 each directly into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries. The scheme is effective from December 1, 2018.