Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma on Saturday, 20 June 2026, lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for releasing the 23rd instalment of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme, under which more than ₹18,880 crore has been disbursed to over 9.44 crore farmers across India. Sharma described farmer welfare as the 'supreme priority' of the ruling dispensation at both the Centre and the state.

Posting in Hindi on X, the Chief Minister wrote: 'अन्नदाता किसानों का सम्मान, सशक्तीकरण और समृद्धि हमारी डबल इंजन सरकार की सर्वोच्च प्राथमिकता है' — loosely translated as, 'The honour, empowerment, and prosperity of our farmer-providers is the supreme priority of our double-engine government.' He credited Prime Minister Modi with personally overseeing the transfer.

Context

The PM-KISAN scheme was launched in February 2019 as a central sector initiative to deliver direct income support to eligible landholding farmer families across India. Under the scheme, each beneficiary receives ₹6,000 per year in three equal instalments of ₹2,000 each, credited directly into bank accounts through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) platform. The 23rd instalment marks a continuation of what has become one of the largest direct cash-transfer programmes in Indian agricultural history.

The disbursement of ₹18,880 crore to more than 9.44 crore beneficiaries in a single tranche underscores the scale at which the Union government has expanded the scheme's reach since its inception. Cumulative outflows under PM-KISAN have grown steadily with each successive instalment cycle.

Policy Backdrop

Direct Benefit Transfers to farmers have been a central pillar of agricultural income policy for the BJP-led Union government since 2019. The DBT model is designed to eliminate intermediaries and ensure that support reaches farmers without leakage, a goal that successive Union Budgets have reinforced through increased allocation and technology-driven delivery.

Rajasthan, governed by the BJP since December 2023 when Bhajan Lal Sharma assumed office as Chief Minister, has consistently aligned its state-level agricultural outreach with central schemes. The 'double engine government' framing — a BJP political shorthand for coordinated governance when the same party controls both the Centre and a state — is frequently invoked by Sharma to highlight this convergence.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries of the 23rd PM-KISAN instalment are small and marginal farmers across India, a demographic that constitutes the majority of the country's agricultural workforce. For many such households, the ₹2,000 per instalment provides critical liquidity at the start of a sowing or harvesting cycle.

For Rajasthan specifically — a predominantly agrarian state with a large proportion of smallholder farmers — the release of each PM-KISAN instalment carries direct economic significance. State governments in BJP-ruled states have also leveraged such releases to reinforce voter outreach in rural constituencies.

What's Next

The PM-KISAN cycle typically sees three instalments per financial year; with the 23rd instalment now released, attention will turn to the schedule and beneficiary count for the 24th instalment. Any revisions to the annual support amount — currently fixed at ₹6,000 since the scheme's launch — or expansion of eligibility criteria are likely to feature in upcoming Union Budget deliberations. Farmer welfare allocations will also be closely watched in the context of state assembly elections due across several states in the coming months.