The Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, Government of India is taking several measures to facilitate the farmers and farming activities at field level during the lockdown period. The updated status is given below:

1. Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme during the lockdown period from 24.3.2020 till date, about 8.89 crore farmer families have been benefitted and an amount of Rs. 17,793 crore has been released so far.
2. In order to provide food security during the prevailing situation due to COVID-19 pandemic, the Government has decided to distribute pulses to the eligible households under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PM-GKY). About 107,077.85 MT pulses have so far been issued to the States/UTs.

• Under PMGKY, the States/UTs namely A&N, Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Daman & Diu, Goa, Gujarat have commenced the distribution of pulses to the beneficiaries. Other States like Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi have received the partial stock and will commence the distribution to the beneficiaries in phased manner as per their plan.
• The distribution of pulses under PMGKY is to benefit around 19.50 crore household       spread across 36 States and Union territories.

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APS/PK/MS