CHENNAI: At least 12.9 lakh farmers in Tamil Nadu will benefit from the first phase of the NDA government’s ambitious financial assistance scheme - Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN).Two of the beneficiaries from the state will receive the financial aid in person from Prime Minister Narendra Modi , scheduled to launch the programme in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur on Sunday, while 1,000 farmers from selected pockets from across the state would join chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami in Chennai to witness the programme via video-conferencing.The scheme was meant to provide income support to the small and marginal farmers in procuring various inputs to ensure proper crop health and appropriate yield, commensurate with the anticipated farm income.Data of around 73 lakh small and marginal farmers with landholding of two hectares have been collected from each district. Keeping the forthcoming Lok Sabha election in mind, the AIADMK government has instructed officials to ensure that a maximum number of farmers are enrolled under the scheme toappease the farming community to transform them into votes for the alliance. It was a struggle for officials to accomplish the task within a short span.“We have uploaded the data of 30 lakh farmers in the first phase in the portal (pmkisan.nic.in) designed exclusively for the programme, after validating them,” a senior officer in charge of the programme told TOI. “After the second and third level of verification, the executing authority of the scheme shortlisted around 12.9 lakh farmers as eligible beneficiaries for the first phase of the scheme,” he said.The number of beneficiaries is expected to touch 13 lakh before the list is finalised on Saturday. The Central government would deposit the first tranche of Rs 2,000 for the period from December 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019. The amount would be deposited directly in the bank account of the respective beneficiaries.“It is a continuous process,” he said, adding that the details of more than 50% of farmers have been screened and filtered for mismatch of mis-information or lack of information like name, address, bank account, and Aadhar number. “We have received the communication in this regard. It will be rectified and uploaded in the portal to add eligible farmers left out in the beneficiaries’ list,” the official added.

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