The Congress on Monday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bid to turn a routine bureaucratic exercise into a major development by packaging the release of the 17th instalment of the PM Kisan Nidhi as the first decision of his third government.

Earlier in the day, the government had issued a media release and photograph of the Prime Minister signing the file on the release of funds under PM Kisan Nidhi, while proclaiming that the "first decision of the new government shows commitment of government to farmer welfare".

This will benefit 9.3 crore farmers and distribute around ₹20,000 crore, the statement said. Quoting the Prime Minister, it added: "Ours is a government fully committed to Kisan Kalyan. It is therefore fitting that the first file signed on taking charge is related to farmer welfare. We want to keep working even more for the farmers and the agriculture sector in the times to come."

Taking a swipe at the Prime Minister, Congress media-in-charge Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X: "The ‘one-third’ Pradhan Mantri has done nobody a great favour by signing this file: these are legitimate entitlements due to farmers according to his Government’s own policy. He has made a habit of converting routine administrative decisions into some great bonanza that he is bestowing upon the people. Clearly, he still thinks of himself as not biological, but divine."

If anything, this instalment was long overdue and had been delayed by the elections.

“The 16th instalment of PM Kisan Nidhi was due in January 2024, but was delayed by a month for the PM’s electoral calculus. The 17th instalment of PM Kisan Nidhi was due in April/May 2024, but was delayed by the enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct," Ramesh added.

According to the Congress, if the government is really committed to farmers’ welfare, it should make some crucial policy interventions. These include the grant of legal status to minimum support prices (MSPs) in accordance with the Swaminathan Commission’s formula, farm loan waivers with a permanent commission to effectively implement them, guaranteed insurance payment straight to a farmer's bank account within 30 days of crop loss, a new import-export policy in consultation with farmers, and GST (goods and services tax) exemption on essential inputs for farming.

All five policy interventions suggested by Ramesh were promises made by the Congress in its manifesto for the just-concluded 18th Lok Sabha elections, and formed part of "kisan nyay (justice to farmers)".