New Delhi: In a major push to boost rural consumption, the in its first Cabinet meeting decided to cover all the farmers, irrespective of their land holdings, under PM Kisan scheme that promises to transfer Rs 6,000 in their 

The revised scheme envisages to cover 2 crore more farmers with an estimated expenditure of Rs 87,217.50 crore in 2019-20. The previous government had estimated annual expenditure of Rs 75,000 crore in the earlier version of the scheme.

The also approved a proposal to provide pension cover to crores of farmers. The Centre would spend Rs 10,774.5 crore for a period of three years on this.

The decision is expected to address the farm sector distress that has gripped the rural economy for some

time now. One of the key contributors to the GDP growth, the agriculture and allied activities shrank in the financial year 2018-19.

As per the official data released on Friday, the agriculture sector grew at 2.9 per cent in FY-19 as against the growth rate of 5 per cent in the previous year.

A month before the Union Budget, the decision to expand the PM Kisan scheme shows government’s priority accorded to the farm sector. Many policy experts have stated that higher spending in rural areas would boost economy and could be 

Announced in the Interim Budget last February, the PM Kisan had covered 12 crore farmers in the country promising to transfer Rs 6,000 in equal installments directly into the of farmers holding up to 2 hectares of land. The scheme helped the win over the voters ahead of the 

The previous had promised to double farmers’ income by 2022 by raising farm output and prices. It had raised minimum support price (MSP) of various crops including rice, wheat and pulses.

IANS