DW BUREAU/Shimla Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday released the 10th installment of minimum financial benefit under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme from New Delhi virtually. Under this instalment, Rs 20,946 crore was disbursed to more than 10.09 crore farmer families of the country. During the programme, the Prime Minister also released an equity grant of more than Rs 14.04 crore to about 351 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), which has benefitted more than 1.24 lakh farmers. Chief Minister, Jai Ram Thakur also attended the virtual function from Shimla today. Later interacting with media, the Himachal Chief Minister said that Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme was launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 24 February, 2019 to provide income support of Rs 6,000 per year in three equal installments of Rs 2000 to small and marginal farmers. Thakur said that agriculture in the state contributes about 13.62 percent of the total State Gross Domestic Product. He said that there were 88 percent small and marginal farmers in the state. He said that an amount of Rs 1537 crore has been disbursed to about 9.68 lakh eligible farmers of the state under this ambitious scheme upto 31 December, 2021. Thakur said that there were 107 FPOs with about 15000 members in Himachal Pradesh. He said that these FPOs were working in different agricultural and allied activities in the State. He said that the Prime Minister has released an equity grant of Rs. 16.72 lakh to 7 FPOs of the state today. (editor@dailyworld.in)