PM Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana

Why a separate farmer pension?

Almost 86 % of India's 14 crore farm households cultivate less than 2 hectares. Unlike salaried workers, they lack access to EPFO, ESIC or NPS-style contributory pensions, and PM-KISAN's ₹6,000/year income support stops the moment a farmer's land passes to the next generation. PM Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana (PM-KMY), launched on 12 September 2019, plugs that gap with a voluntary contributory Defined Benefit old-age pension of ₹3,000/month from age 60, administered by LIC as the pension fund manager.

Eligibility

• Small or Marginal Farmer (cultivable land ≤ 2 ha).
• Age between 18 and 40 at enrolment.
• Name recorded on state land records as on 1 August 2019 (or subsequent revision).
• Not covered under EPFO, ESIC, NPS or any other statutory pension scheme.
• Not an income-tax payer, MP, MLA, Minister, or Group A/B serving/retired government employee.

Contribution schedule

Monthly contribution is age-graded: ₹55 at 18, ₹100 around age 30, ₹200 at 40 — and the Government of India matches the farmer's contribution rupee-for-rupee into the pension corpus. The corpus is managed by LIC under the National Social Assistance umbrella. A farmer who joins at 18 will have contributed approximately ₹27,720 over 42 years; the government will match ₹27,720, and LIC pays out ₹3,000/month for life from age 60 (plus 50 % family pension to spouse).

Auto-enrolment with PM-KISAN

Existing PM-KISAN beneficiaries can opt to auto-debit the PM-KMY contribution from their PM-KISAN cash benefit — this eliminates any out-of-pocket payment by the farmer. The two schemes are not mutually exclusive: a farmer can draw ₹6,000/yr PM-KISAN until land transfer and ₹36,000/yr PM-KMY pension after age 60.

How to apply

1. Visit your nearest Common Service Centre (CSC); carry Aadhaar, savings/Jan Dhan bank account passbook and the most recent land record showing cultivable area.
2. The Village Level Entrepreneur (VLE) at the CSC will authenticate Aadhaar, generate a Kisan Pension Account Number (KPAN) and an auto-debit mandate.
3. First contribution debits from the linked bank account on the same day; thereafter monthly auto-debit.
4. Confirm enrolment status on maandhan.in using mobile + Aadhaar.

Exit and refund

A subscriber who exits before age 60 receives back his/her own contributions with accumulated interest at savings bank rate. On death of a contributor before age 60, the spouse may continue the scheme or exit with full refund. On death after age 60, the spouse receives 50 % family pension for life.

Latest changes (2024 — 2026)

• February 2024: The Ministry of Agriculture clarified that landless agricultural labourers continue to be eligible if they hold a valid ration card and meet the same income-test conditions, even though they do not appear on land records.
• July 2024: CSC Special Purpose Vehicle rolled out a refreshed mobile enrolment app with offline e-KYC, addressing patchy connectivity in the 108 aspirational districts where enrolment had stalled.
• November 2024: LIC, the pension fund manager, started annual subscriber statements via SMS and DigiLocker — contribution summary, government matching, projected pension at 60.
• March 2025: Auto-debit linkage with PM-KISAN refreshed — beneficiaries who opt in see the ₹55 — ₹200 monthly contribution deducted from the next PM-KISAN instalment with no cash outflow.
• 2025-26 Budget: Outlay maintained at roughly ₹250 crore for the GoI matching share — exact FY-wise spend tracks live enrolment counts and is updated quarterly on maandhan.in.

Common rejection reasons and the appeal route

• Aadhaar — bank seeding failure: the auto-debit mandate fails when the bank account is not NPCI-mapped to Aadhaar. Re-seed at the issuing bank, not at the CSC.
• Landholding above 2 ha: enrolment is cancelled if subsequent land records show consolidated holding exceeding the small-and-marginal cut-off; the farmer can claim refund of contributions plus interest.
• Already covered under EPFO/ESIC/NPS: cross-verification through the Common Pension Database triggers ex-post cancellation; affected subscribers receive a refund with interest.
• Income tax filer in past 3 assessment years: any ITR filed under business or salary head disqualifies, mirroring the PM-KISAN exclusion.
• Age above 40 at enrolment: the system blocks enrolment, but offline CSC entries occasionally slip through; such cases are cancelled and refunded.
• Aadhaar demographic mismatch: name, DOB or gender mismatch between Aadhaar and bank KYC blocks Kisan Pension Account Number (KPAN) issuance.

Grievance is filed first with the CSC VLE; if unresolved in 15 days, escalation goes to the District Project Manager (DPM) at the Agriculture Department. The maandhan.in portal hosts a grievance tab linked to the CPGRAMS pipeline; LIC's call centre on 1800-3000-3468 handles contribution and pension-payment queries.

Coverage statistics (2025)

Per data tabled in Lok Sabha during the 2024 Winter Session and the 2025 Budget Session, enrolments under PM-KMY are around 23.4 lakh subscribers, with Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh leading the count. The scheme remains under-subscribed relative to its notional addressable population of about 12 crore small and marginal farmers — the auto-debit linkage with PM-KISAN, introduced precisely to remove cash-flow friction, is expected to drive the next wave of enrolment. Exact district-wise figures are published on the maandhan.in dashboard but are not consistently updated; for parliamentary-grade numbers use the PIB-released “Achievements of Department of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare” annual compendium.

Stacking with other schemes

PM-KMY is fully additive — it does not affect entitlements under PM-KISAN, PMFBY or KCC. A small farmer typically enjoys all four together: ₹6,000/yr PM-KISAN income support up to land transfer, ₹3,000/month PM-KMY pension after age 60, premium- subsidised PMFBY crop insurance every kharif/rabi, and KCC short-term credit with 2 % MISS interest subvention. For irrigation, the PM-KMY pensioner's family continues to access PM-KUSUM solar-pump subsidies in the cultivator's name.

Related

• PM-KISAN — ₹6,000/yr income support; auto-debit option here.
• Scheme eligibility check.