Budget: Govt expands PM KUSUM for solar pumps, hopes to cover 2 mn farmers
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced expansion of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) Scheme under which 2 million farmers would be provided funds to set up standalone solar pumps.
While presenting the budget for 2020-21, the minister said that 1.5 million farmers would be provided funds to set up grid-connected 1.5 million solar pumps.
The previous Modi government in February last year had unveiled the PM KUSUM scheme with an outlay of Rs 34,422 crore.
Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha that the scheme has removed farmers’ dependence on diesel and kerosene and linked them to solar energy. The scheme also enables the farmers to set up solar power generation capacity and sell it to the grid.
