PM Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana: 100 Districts | CLAT...

CURRENT AFFAIRS | 10 OCTOBER 2026

The Prime Minister Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana (PMDDKY) completes its first year on 11 October 2026. Ahead of the anniversary, the Press Information Bureau released a PIB Backgrounder on Saturday, 10 October 2026, titled “One Year of Focused Agricultural Development Across 100 Districts”. It sets out how the scheme works, how its 100 Aspirational Agricultural Districts were chosen, and how their performance has been measured in the first year.

According to the backgrounder, PMDDKY was approved by the Union Cabinet on 16 July 2025 for a period of six years and was formally launched by the Prime Minister on 11 October 2025. The six-year initiative begins with 2025–26 and covers agriculture and allied activities.

The problem the scheme targets

The backgrounder starts from a simple diagnosis: many parts of India have strong agricultural potential but lag behind because of low productivity, inadequate irrigation, limited access to credit and a lack of post-harvest infrastructure. Instead of a uniform national programme, PMDDKY concentrates effort on the districts that are furthest behind, and tailors interventions to each district’s needs.

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How the 100 districts were chosen

The districts were identified using three key indicators: low productivity, low cropping intensity and less agricultural credit disbursement. The selection also took into account each State’s and Union Territory’s share of net cropped area and operational holdings, and every State has at least one selected district. That last rule matters: it builds a federal balance into a scheme that might otherwise cluster in a few regions.

Convergence, not a new silo

The defining design choice is convergence. PMDDKY does not run as a stand-alone spending programme; the backgrounder says it is implemented through the convergence of 36 Central schemes across 11 Ministries and Departments, together with State schemes and private-sector participation. In practice, this means existing schemes for irrigation, credit, storage and crop diversification are pointed at the same 100 districts under one plan.

Constitutional / Legal Framework

Who governs agriculture? Agriculture is a State subject (Entry 14 of the State List in the Seventh Schedule). The Centre therefore works largely through schemes and funding, which is why PMDDKY routes District Action Plans into State departments’ annual action plans for approval and fund release.

Directive Principles: Article 48 directs the State to organise agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines, and Article 47 speaks of raising the level of nutrition and the standard of living — both underpin farm-productivity schemes.

Three-tier structure (per the backgrounder):

District: District Dhan Dhaanya Krishi Yojana Samiti, headed by the District Collector/DM, prepares and implements the District Action Plan.
State: State Dhan Dhaanya Krishi Yojana Samiti, headed by the Chief Secretary, reviews and monitors District Plans.
National: a National Executive Committee headed by the Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, and a National Monitoring Committee headed by the Secretary, DA&FW.

District Action Plans and 121 indicators

District Action Plans (DAPs) are built on a baseline and diagnostic analysis. They set outcome-based targets, annual milestones and interventions linked to relevant schemes. Progress is tracked through 121 indicators across the 36 schemes — 74 output indicators and 47 outcome indicators. District performance on output indicators is ranked monthly on the PM-DDKY dashboard, which the backgrounder says became operational in the last week of October 2025; monthly rankings began in November 2025.

What one year has delivered

The backgrounder reports that all 100 districts have prepared DAPs, now under implementation, and that committees have been constituted at the national, State and district levels. All 100 districts submitted output-indicator data up to August 2026 and outcome-indicator data for 2025–26. The Department of Public Enterprises has included adoption of these districts for CSR activity by CPSEs for FY 2026–27 and 2027–28.

The headline number is the average score of the 100 districts across six objectives, which rose from 18.85 in April 2026 to 46.89 in August 2026 — an improvement of 28.04 points. Every objective improved: agricultural productivity (1.50 to 8.08), crop diversification and sustainable practices (4.08 to 10.18), post-harvest storage (2.14 to 5.19), irrigation (1.38 to 4.91), access to credit (2.40 to 6.53) and governance and service delivery (7.41 to 12.05).

The PM-DDKY FPO Sangam in December 2025 brought together over 72 Farmer Producer Organisations from 15 States and 33 districts. The backgrounder highlights three examples: a rice-processing FPO in Gadchiroli (Maharashtra) with a 900-tonne warehouse; a copra FPO in Tumakuru (Karnataka) supplying a multinational buyer; and a cumin FPO in Jaisalmer (Rajasthan) using solar-powered sprinkler irrigation over 500 acres.

The CLAT Angle

GK: likely questions — number of districts (100), duration (six years from 2025–26), Cabinet approval date (16 July 2025), launch date (11 October 2025), the three selection indicators, and the convergence figure (36 schemes, 11 Ministries).

Reading comprehension: a passage on PMDDKY can test the difference between output indicators (what was done, e.g. storage built) and outcome indicators (what changed, e.g. yields). Watch for an option that treats a rise in a composite score as proof of higher farm incomes — the backgrounder reports scores, not incomes.

Polity: because agriculture is a State subject, a question may ask why a Central scheme depends on State action plans — the answer is the federal division of legislative and executive power.

Analysis

PMDDKY reflects a wider shift in Indian public policy from scheme-by-scheme spending to place-based, data-ranked delivery, where a district’s performance is scored and publicly compared each month. Its strengths are clear targeting, a single plan per district, and a dashboard that makes lagging areas visible. Two cautions follow from the backgrounder itself. First, the score jump is measured over just four months (April to August 2026) and from a low base, so early gains may partly reflect better data reporting rather than change on the ground. Second, most of the measured improvement lies in output indicators; the more demanding test — whether productivity, cropping intensity and credit reach durably improve — will come from outcome data over the remaining five years.

Key Facts

PIB Backgrounder on PMDDKY released 10 October 2026; first anniversary 11 October 2026.
Cabinet approval: 16 July 2025; launch by the Prime Minister: 11 October 2025.
Duration: six years, beginning 2025–26.
Coverage: 100 Aspirational Agricultural Districts; every State has at least one.
Selection indicators: low productivity, low cropping intensity, less agricultural credit.
Convergence of 36 Central schemes across 11 Ministries/Departments, plus State schemes and private sector.
Monitoring: 121 indicators (74 output, 47 outcome); monthly rankings on a dashboard.
District body headed by the Collector/DM; State body by the Chief Secretary; National Executive Committee by the Union Agriculture Minister.
Average district score: 18.85 (April 2026) → 46.89 (August 2026), up 28.04 points.
PM-DDKY FPO Sangam (December 2025): over 72 FPOs from 15 States and 33 districts.

Memory Hook / Mnemonic

“100 districts, 36 schemes, 11 ministries, 6 years” — read it as 100–36–11–6.

Selection = “PIC”: low Productivity, low cropping Intensity, low Credit. Indicators = 121 = 74 + 47 (output + outcome). Dates: approved 16/7/25, launched 11/10/25.