NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi’s visit to his parliamentary constituency Varanasi on June 18, his first after taking office, will highlight govt’s efforts to improve farmer welfare, including transferring Rs 2,000 each to 9.3 crore farmers under
PM-Kisan
and recognise 30,000 self-help groups as ‘
Krishi Sakhis
’—women professionals trained in farm extension services.
Modi will connect with thousands of stakeholders attending the event virtually at all 732 Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVKs) nationwide. Several Union ministers will join the event from 50 selected KVKs in various states.
Agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan wrote to all CMs urging, including from opposition-ruled states, to participate virtually and extend their support. “We want to take everyone along for welfare of farmers,” said Chouhan.
Over one lakh primary agricultural credit societies (PACS) and five common service centres (CSCs) in rural areas will participate in the event, aimed at raising awareness about various schemes and facilities, including the AI-powered grievance chatbot (Kisan e-Mitra) designed to assist farmers promptly in their local languages.
“As of now, chatbot’s services are available in 12 languages and will soon cover all remaining languages. To date, it has resolved over 70 lakh queries related to schemes,” noted Chouhan.
Under PM-Kisan, Modi will transfer around Rs 20,000 crores to 9.3 crore farmers through direct benefit transfer (DBT). The total amount transferred to farmer beneficiaries since the inception of the scheme in Feb, 2019 will cross over Rs 3.2 lakh crore on June 18.
