ROHTAK, Oct. 31 -- More than 16 lakh farmer families in Haryana received Rs.324.7 crore under the 24th instalment of the PM-KISAN Samman Nidhi scheme released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday. Addressing a programme in Bhiwani to mark the release of the instalment, chief minister Nayab Singh Saini said that the instalment was released by the Prime Minister from Banaskantha in Gujarat, with more than Rs.18,680 crore transferred to the bank accounts of over 9.3 crore farmer families across the country. Describing PM-KISAN as one of the world's largest direct benefit transfer schemes, Saini said it changed the relationship between farmers and the government by establishing a nationwide mechanism to provide financial assistance directly to their bank accounts. He said farmers received more than Rs.4.4 lakh crore under successive instalments so far, including over Rs.1 lakh crore during the Covid-19 pandemic. Nearly one in four beneficiaries was a woman farmer, with more than Rs.1 lakh crore transferred directly to women under the scheme, he added. In Haryana, the cumulative disbursement under the 24 instalments reached Rs.8,206.3 crore, Saini said. The Centre approved over Rs.3 lakh crore for the scheme up to 2030-31, ensuring its continuation in the coming years. The CM said the scheme was initially launched for small and marginal farmers but was extended within a few months to all landholding farmer families. On natural farming, Saini said nearly two lakh farmers registered three lakh acres for the practice in Haryana, of which 23,930 farmers adopted it on 44,000 acres. More than 12,000 farmers received training at centres in Kurukshetra, Jind, Sirsa and Karnal. Agriculture and farmers welfare minister Shyam Singh Rana, who was also present, said PM-KISAN provided farmers Rs.6,000 annually in three instalments of Rs.2,000 each. Haryana chief minister Nayab Saini has expressed gratefulness to farmers of the state for not burning the crop waste and helping the government to protect the environment. "My heartfelt thanks to the farmers of Haryana, not a single farmer has burnt crop residue. Instead, they have turned it into a source of income,"the CM said....