MEDIATING ROLE OF PRINT MEDIA IN SHAPING AWARENESS AND PERCEPTION ABOUT KISAN SAMMAN NIDHI SCHEME: A STUDY ON FARMERS OF GORAKHPUR DISTRICT UTTAR PRADESH

A quantitative study was carried out to identify farmers' awareness level and perception towards the Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme of the central government. The government's PM-Kisan program, also known as the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme, offers financial support to small and marginal farmers. The government will give all eligible beneficiaries Rs. 6000 a year in three instalments under this scheme. The objective of the study is to gauge the level of awareness and perception of the farmers towards the scheme furthermore to assess the role of Print Media for the same. For this purpose, 80 beneficiaries of the Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme were taken as study respondents from Jangal Dhoosar and Jangle Rani Kuanri Suhas villages of Gorakhpur district, Uttar Pradesh. The data reveals that all the respondents (n = 80) were aware of the Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme. 68 respondents (85%) have the basic knowledge of the Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme. However, about 10 of the respondents (12.5 %) were moderate and 2 of the respondents (2.5 %) were advanced in their level of knowledge about the Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme. According to the study findings, approximately (92.5 %) of respondents thought the Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme was very good, while (5%) believed it was good and (2.5%) said it was average. This specifies that a positive perception has been built towards the Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme.