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Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare and Rural Development Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced approval of 11,18,937 pucca houses for Bihar with an allocation of Rs 13,427 crore, at the state-level Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana programme in Patna.
Cumulatively, 24,30,327 houses have been approved for Bihar over two years with expenditure of Rs 29,164 crore; the sanction letter was handed to Chief Minister Shri Samrat Choudhary.
The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana will now be implemented in Bihar - a reversal for a state that had opted out of the central crop insurance scheme and run its own crop-loss assistance scheme instead.
Bihar has created 53,83,000 Farmer Identity Cards under the AgriStack farmer registry, which the Minister cited as the route to faster and more transparent delivery of scheme benefits.
On women's economic empowerment, the Minister said She-Marts would be set up in every district to give JEEViKA Didis and women's Self-Help Groups a market for their products, building on the Lakhpati Didi initiative.
Provide a pucca house with basic amenities to every houseless rural household and to those living in kutcha or dilapidated houses
Key: Launched in April 2016 under the Ministry of Rural Development with an original target of 2.95 crore houses by March 2024; continued for FY 2024-25 to FY 2028-29 with an additional 2 crore houses, taking the cumulative target to 4.95 crore. Unit assistance is Rs 1.20 lakh in plain areas and Rs 1.30 lakh in North-Eastern and hilly states, unchanged in the extended period.
Insure farmers against non-preventable natural risks across the crop cycle, from pre-sowing to post-harvest losses, and stabilise farm incomes
Key: Implemented since 2016 under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare. The farmer's premium is capped at 2% of the sum insured for Kharif crops, 1.5% for Rabi crops and 5% for commercial and horticultural crops; the balance of the actuarial premium is shared by the Centre and the state on a 50:50 basis, and 90:10 for North-Eastern states from Kharif 2020. Enrolment was made voluntary from Kharif 2020.
Compensate Bihar's farmers for crop loss from natural calamities without requiring any premium payment
Key: Bihar's state-funded replacement for PMFBY, adopted after the state opted out in 2018. It is an assistance scheme rather than an insurance scheme: reported payout rates are Rs 7,500 per hectare where crop loss is up to the 20% threshold and Rs 10,000 per hectare where loss exceeds 20%.
Build digital public infrastructure for agriculture, of which the Farmer ID - a verified digital identity linked to land records - is the citizen-facing element
Key: The Union Cabinet approved the Digital Agriculture Mission on 2 September 2024 with an outlay of Rs 2,817 crore, including a central share of Rs 1,940 crore. AgriStack rests on three foundational registries maintained by state governments, of which the Farmers' Registry holds farmer-specific data, within the privacy framework of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. The Farmer ID target is 11 crore - 6 crore in FY 2024-25, 3 crore in FY 2025-26 and 2 crore in FY 2026-27; more than 10.31 crore Farmer IDs had been created nationally as of 3 August 2026.
Enable women in Self-Help Groups to reach an annual household income of at least Rs 1 lakh through self-employment, group enterprise and access to finance
Key: Launched in 2023 under DAY-NRLM by the Ministry of Rural Development. A Lakhpati Didi is defined as an SHG member with annual household income of Rs 1,00,000 or more, sustained across at least four agricultural seasons or business cycles with average monthly income above Rs 10,000. The original target of 3 crore was met ahead of schedule and the target now stands at 6 crore by March 2029.
Reduce rural poverty by mobilising poor households, especially women, into Self-Help Groups and their federations and linking them to finance and livelihoods
Key: The Ministry of Rural Development's flagship livelihoods mission and the umbrella under which the Lakhpati Didi initiative sits. It is implemented in the states through State Rural Livelihoods Missions - in Bihar, that is JEEViKA.
Provide all-weather road connectivity to eligible unconnected rural habitations
Key: Launched on 25 December 2000. PMGSY-IV, approved in 2024 for FY 2024-25 to FY 2028-29, targets 25,000 habitations through 62,500 km of roads with an outlay of Rs 70,125 crore (central share Rs 49,087.50 crore, state share Rs 21,037.50 crore). Eligibility uses Census 2011 population: above 500 in plains, above 250 in North-Eastern and hill states and special category areas, and above 100 in Left Wing Extremism affected districts.
Establish clear ownership of property in rural inhabited (abadi) areas and issue legal ownership documents to village households
Key: Full form: Survey of Villages Abadi and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas. A Central Sector scheme launched on National Panchayat Day, 24 April 2020, with the Ministry of Panchayati Raj as nodal ministry, implemented with Survey of India and state revenue and panchayati raj departments using drone survey. Around 2.42 crore property cards had been created across 1.61 lakh villages, with drone surveys completed in 3.20 lakh villages, till April 2025.
| Aspect | Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana | Bihar Rajya Fasal Sahayata Yojana |
|---|---|---|
| Nature | Insurance scheme with an actuarial premium | State assistance scheme; no insurance contract |
| Farmer's premium | Capped at 2% (Kharif), 1.5% (Rabi), 5% (commercial and horticultural) of sum insured | None - the farmer pays nothing |
| Who bears the rest | Centre and state share the balance actuarial premium 50:50 (90:10 for North-Eastern states from Kharif 2020) | Fully funded by the Government of Bihar |
| Payout basis | Assessed yield loss against threshold yield, plus prevented sowing, localised calamity and post-harvest cover | Flat per-hectare assistance: Rs 7,500 per hectare up to the 20% loss threshold, Rs 10,000 per hectare above 20% loss |
| Enrolment | Voluntary from Kharif 2020, including for loanee farmers | Voluntary registration by the farmer |
| Status in Bihar | Bihar opted out in 2018; the release states it will now be implemented in the state | Ran as Bihar's substitute after the 2018 withdrawal |
Bihar's State Rural Livelihoods Mission and the body that mobilises rural women into Self-Help Groups and their federations - the 'JEEViKA Didis' the release names as beneficiaries of the proposed She-Marts. Established in 2006 with World Bank support, it implements DAY-NRLM in the state.
Nodal ministry for PMAY-G, DAY-NRLM, the Lakhpati Didi initiative and PMGSY. The release was issued under this ministry.
Nodal ministry for SVAMITVA - the rural property-card scheme that sits alongside PMAY-G in the rural land-and-housing story, and a frequent point of confusion with the Ministry of Rural Development
States opting out of centrally sponsored schemes over their share of the cost - Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in PMFBY's case - is a standing GS-2 illustration of the fiscal tension inside cooperative federalism. Bihar's return to PMFBY is the same argument running the other way.
The Farmer ID is agriculture's version of the identity layer that Aadhaar provides for individuals: a verified, land-linked digital identity that lets schemes be delivered without repeated documentary verification, governed within the privacy framework of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
The Lakhpati Didi target and the She-Mart proposal are both about the missing link in the SHG model - market access. Production support without market linkage is the standard critique of SHG programmes, and the release is explicitly answering it.
PMAY-G requires a beneficiary to have land to build on, which is why SVAMITVA's property cards and rural land record digitisation matter to the housing programme even though the two schemes sit in different ministries.
GS Paper 2 > Governance > Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections and their performance
General Awareness > Government Schemes
General Awareness > Priority Sector, Rural Credit and Government Schemes
General Awareness > Current Affairs and Schemes
PMAY-G and PMFBY are among the most frequently examined central schemes across UPSC, SSC and banking exams.
A house built with durable walls and roof material, as against a kutcha house of temporary material - the eligibility distinction PMAY-G is built on.
The full risk-based premium computed for a crop insurance policy, of which the farmer pays only the capped share under PMFBY while the Centre and state pay the balance.
A verified digital identity for a farmer, linked to land records, created under the AgriStack Farmers' Registry as part of the Digital Agriculture Mission.
An SHG member whose household earns Rs 1 lakh or more a year, sustained over at least four agricultural seasons or business cycles with average monthly income above Rs 10,000.
Survey of Villages Abadi and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas - the Ministry of Panchayati Raj's drone-based rural property-card scheme launched on 24 April 2020.