new delhi setting the tone for electioneering for the upcoming bihar assembly polls prime minister narendra modi on thursday lauded chief minister nitish kumars good work to ensure safe drinking water supply in villages and said 75 lakh farmers in the state have been handed out rs 6000 crore cash under the pmkisan schememodi reached out to the voters of the state by starting his speech in bhojpuri language in a video conference after he launched the rs 20050 crorepradhan mantri matsya sampada yojana pmmsy and several other initiatives related to fisheries and animal husbandry in biharthe assembly polls in the state are likely to be held in octobernovemberthe prime minister highlighted several initiatives taken by the centre to help farmers and migrants from bihar during the ongoing covid19 crisis including providing free ration to migrants returning home from cities and pmgkaybihar is bravely facing floods situation as well as coronavirus we are aware of the flood situation in bihar and adjoining areas the efforts of both centre and state government is to ensure the completion of relief work in a speedy manner modi saiddue to several initiatives the government has been successful in ensuring there is less impact of coronavirus on villages he said adding that the motto behind all the initiatives is to make the country selfreliantto support farmers the government has transferred rs 6000 crore directly to the bank accounts of 75 lakh farmers in bihar since the launch of pmkisan he saidover 10 crore farmers across the country have benefited so far under the pmkisan scheme modi saidunder this scheme launched in 2019 rs 6000 is provided to farmers annually in three equal instalmentsbesides the prime minister said the centre is focusing on ensuring that free ration under the pradhan mantri garib kalyan anna yojana pmgkay reaches to the needy person in bihar he also said the pmgkay has been extended till diwali and chhath festivals in novemberunder pmgkay five kilograms of food grains per person and one kilogram of dal per household is provided free of cost to ration card holdersmodi said many migrants are returning to bihar and are showing interest in animal husbandry related works and that the government is encouraging them through several schemesthe rs 20050 crorepradhan mantri matsya sampada yojana pmmsy and several initiatives launched in patna purnia sitamarhi madhepur kishanganj and samastipur in bihar will not only create new infrastructure but also provide market to farmers he saidthese initiatives were launched through a virtual meetingpraising the bihar chief minister who was also present during the virtual meeting modi said under the leadership of nitish kumarji very good work is being done in the state to ensure drinking water reaches villagesfive years ago safe drinking water had reached only 2 per cent of the households and now this number has crossed 70 per cent he saidduring this period around 15 crore homes were linked with piped water supply this initiative has been further strengthened with the centres jal jeevan missionduring covid19