Interim Budget: Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Ashima Goyal, while delivering her wishlist for the forthcoming Budget, urged that the Narendra Modi-led government consider implementing an income tax on wealthy farmers to improve taxation equity. The Interim Budget 2024 will be presented to Parliament on February 1 and is not likely to include any significant changes to the taxation structure.
"Government transfers to farmers are similar to a negative income tax. Along with that, a positive income tax can be imposed on wealthy farmers as part of a transition to a data-rich system with low tax rates and minimum exemptions," Goyal told PTI.
It is worth noting that the Narendra Modi-led government distributes Rs 6,000 per year to poor farmers through the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi. PM Kisan Yojana is a central plan funded entirely by the Centre. The initiative was introduced on February 24, 2019, just prior to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Earlier, it was claimed that the Centre is considering increasing the amount of money transferred under the PM-KISAN Yojana ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in April-May. The allocation per farmer is likely to increase from Rs 6,000 to Rs 8,000 annually. The Modi government is also considering strengthening the provisions of the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana.
The Centre is planned to implement the 16th installment of the PM-KISAN scheme between February and March 2024. However, there has been no formal pronouncement on this subject. Previously, the Centre announced the 15th installment of the scheme on November 15, 2023.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, every fourth beneficiary added to the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) scheme in the last two months has been a woman.
As per the data, of the 40,50,375 beneficiaries added between November 15, 2023 and January 14, 2024 through PM-Kisan, 10,61,278 were women, 29,87,884 were men, and 1,213 were others. Uttar Pradesh has added the most women beneficiaries to the scheme, with 1.69 lakh, followed by Rajasthan (1.56 lakh), Manipur (1.05 lakh), Jharkhand (90,949), and Kerala (66,887).
These new beneficiaries were enrolled in the plan through the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra (VBSY), the government's flagship project for raising awareness about its initiatives. VBSY was begun on November 15, 2023, with the purpose of reaching the largest number of beneficiaries under government schemes before the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
During the VBSY debut, the number of women recipients exceeded the overall figure. As of November 15, 2023, there were 8.12 crore PM-Kisan beneficiaries, with 6.27 crore (77.33%) males and 1.83 crore (22.64%) females. Uttar Pradesh has the most women beneficiaries (29.22 lakh), followed by Bihar (22.48), Maharashtra (15.62 lakh), Madhya Pradesh (14.84 lakh), and Rajasthan (14.75 lakh).
During the initial installment in December-March 2018-19, there were 3.03 crore grantees. Following that, the numbers increased gradually, peaking at 10.47 crore in April-July 2022. However, the values fell to 8.12 crore between August and November 2023, when the installment was disbursed on November 15.
