Lucknow, Feb 20 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be visiting Gorakhpur, Prayagraj and Amethi next week in Uttar Pradesh to set the ground for the coming General elections.
On February 24, the Prime Minister would be visiting Gorakhpur and Prayagraj while on February 27, he would visit Amethi, the parliamentary constituency of Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
In Gorakhpur, Mr Modi would launch the ambitious PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, when every marginal farmers would be given Rs 6000 per year. The first installment of Rs 2,000 would be handed over to the beneficiaries by Mr Modi.
Later, the Prime Minister will rush to Prayagraj, where he is slated to stay in the Kumbh area for more than two hours and visit several places.
Lastly, on February 27, Mr Modi would travel to Amethi, along with Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani, where he will address a public meeting and visit the HAL and the Ordinance factory.
A report from Gorakhpur said that he would launch the flagship farmers’ minimum income guarantee scheme, projected to cost the exchequer nearly Rs 75,000 crore annually, on February 24.
The scheme PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana was announced in Union Budget 2019-20 tabled in Parliament on February 1 by acting Finance Minister Piyush Goyal to keep farmers in good humour before the Lok Sabha polls against the backdrop of the opposition sharpening attack on the Modi government over farm distress.
The scheme guarantees annual financial support of Rs 6,000 in three instalments to about 125 million small and marginal farmers in India with land holdings of less than 2 hectares. Uttar Pradesh would be the biggest beneficiary with almost 23.5 million small and marginal farmers falling under the umbrella.
Interestingly, Gorakhpur is the traditional turf of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. However, the ruling BJP had lost the last Gorakhpur bypolls to the combined opposition candidate after the CM had resigned from the constituency following his elevation to the top post in the state.
State chief secretary Dr Anup Chandra Pandey has reviewed the preparations for the proposed mega event on Tuesday evening and stressed the importance of the scheme for the alleviation of the small and marginal farmers. He directed officials to upload the names of beneficiaries on the designated PM Kisan portal and Aadhar seeding of their bank accounts so that they could get their money instantly at the inaugural ceremony.
Under the scheme, the beneficiary farmer would be paid Rs 2,000 every four months directly in their bank accounts. Since the scheme was launched retrospectively from December 1, 2018, the first instalment of Rs 2,000 is due within the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2019 i.e. before the Lok Sabha polls.
