Centre yet to relax eligibility criteria
Panaji: Despite sustained efforts by the state government and the recent intervention by the Rajya Sabha MP from Goa, the inclusion of tenant farmers of the state under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme continues to remain pending.
The Centre is yet to act on demand from the state for relaxing the eligibility criteria. The key reason for this exclusion is the ineligibility of tenant farmers, who form a major segment of the state’s agricultural workforce. More than 20,000 such farmers are registered under the Goa Agriculture Tenancy Act, 1964, which recognises them as ‘deemed owners’ with legal cultivation rights.
However, under PM-KISAN guidelines, beneficiaries must possess formal land ownership documents, effectively excluding tenant cultivators despite their legal status at the state level.
In the last five years the number of eligible farmers under the scheme has been reduced by over 4,000 beneficiaries.
The state government wrote to the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on three occasions urging the inclusion of tenant farmers under the scheme.
Recently Rajya Sabha MP from Goa Sadanand Shet Tanavade personally called on Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan in New Delhi with the same demand.
However, till date no progress has been seen on the Goa’s demand.
Agriculture director Sandip Fol Dessai said the government is awaiting a response from the Centre on the demand.
According to the government data, Goa has around 52,581 cultivating farmers. However, only 6,296 farmers are currently receiving benefits under the central scheme, reflecting the coverage of just about 12 per cent.
A letter written by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant in March 2021 to the then Union minister of agriculture and farmers welfare Narendra Singh Tomar had mentioned that Goa had about 10,400 beneficiaries under the scheme. However, a subsequent representation made by the then director of agriculture Nevil Alphonso in May 2022, it was mentioned that beneficiaries under the scheme were about 9,400.
In the latest representation made by Fol Dessai in July 2025 and in a submission by the Rajya Sabha MP it was mentioned that Goa has 6,296 beneficiaries under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi.
The state government is on record saying that more than 80 per cent of farmers in Goa fall under the small and marginal category, and the annual assistance of Rs 6,000 under the centrally sponsored scheme could significantly support their farming activities.
If the Centre approves the proposal, the number of beneficiaries in Goa could potentially triple.
