NEW DELHI: Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Sunday hit out to the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre and said the previous government only waived off the farmers’ bank loan and did not provide them with any other monetary benefit. “About 11 crore farmers were given Rs 6,000 per annum. In a year, about Rs 1.5 lakh crore have been given directly to the farmers, sisters and brothers in their accounts. UPA waived 60,000 crores but the farmers did not get that money. At that time, only bank loans were waived off for them.” tweeted Puri in reply to another tweet by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. In an earlier tweet, Shah said “Making effort for the welfare of the people is the path of spirituality. Our PM Modi ji is walking on this path. For so many decades, other governments made many promises to the poor but did nothing. Today I can proudly say that PM Modi ji has given the poor people the right to live a dignified life by raising their heads in the society.”
As per Prime Minister’s Office, Under the PM-KISAN scheme, a financial benefit of Rs 6,000 per year is provided to the eligible beneficiary farmer families, payable in three equal 4-monthly instalments of Rs 2000 each. The fund is transferred directly to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.