Nearly 24.6 lakh farmers in Chhattisgarh woke up on Friday, 30 October 2026, to a direct bank transfer — ₹498.5 crore hitting their accounts in a single stroke as Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the 24th instalment of the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai announced the development on X, framing it as proof that a 'double engine government' delivers where it counts.

What the 24th Instalment Means for Chhattisgarh's Fields

The PM Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme, launched nationally in February 2019, provides eligible landholding farmer families ₹6,000 per year in three equal instalments of ₹2,000, transferred directly into bank accounts under the government's Direct Benefit Transfer framework. No middlemen, no delays — the money moves at the click of a button in New Delhi.

For Chhattisgarh, a state whose economy rests heavily on paddy cultivation and rain-fed agriculture, the 24th instalment's ₹498.5 crore outflow is not a small number. Spread across more than 24 lakh 60 thousand farming households, it represents a predictable income floor for families who live by the harvest.

Sai, Chouhan, and the 'Double Engine' Claim

CM Sai specifically credited both PM Modi and Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for the smooth rollout, invoking the BJP's signature 'double engine government' pitch — the idea that a BJP state government aligned with a BJP Centre unlocks faster, fuller delivery of central welfare. Chouhan, a former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh himself, now oversees PM-KISAN's implementation nationally from the Union Cabinet.

The framing is deliberate. Chhattisgarh's BJP government, which came to power under Sai in December 2023, has consistently sought to anchor its political identity to visible central scheme deliveries — and a nine-figure direct transfer on a Friday morning is exactly the kind of moment that lands in a constituency.

PM-KISAN's Seven-Year March

Twenty-four instalments in, PM-KISAN has become one of India's largest direct income-support programmes. The scheme's core architecture — verified beneficiary lists, Aadhaar-linked bank accounts, and centralised disbursal — means each instalment is a stress test of the state's land records and database hygiene. States that have cleaned up their beneficiary rolls, like Chhattisgarh under its current administration, tend to see higher per-instalment outflows because fewer transfers are bounced or held.

The next milestone to watch: whether the Union Budget's agricultural income-support allocations expand the annual payout beyond the current ₹6,000 per family — a demand farmer organisations have pressed for years.

For now, 24.6 lakh Chhattisgarh families have their answer in their bank passbooks. The 25th instalment clock has already started.