PM Kisan beneficiaries: Uttar Pradesh govt verifying nearly 30 lakh suspected duplicate claims

Official data shared by the Union government show that 11,07,498 cases have been marked where both husband and wife are suspected to be drawing benefits

The Uttar Pradesh government is verifying nearly 29.74 lakh PM-KISAN beneficiaries flagged by the Centre over suspected duplicate claims, including cases where both spouses, previous and current landowners, or other ineligible persons are under the scanner for receiving benefits.

Launched in February 2019 from Uttar Pradesh, the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme provides ₹6,000 annually to eligible farmer families in three equal instalments of ₹2,000 every four months through direct benefit transfer. (REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE)

In a separate development, on the other hand, more than ₹100 crore has voluntarily been refunded by many beneficiaries perhaps after the self-realisation that legally they were not eligible for the direct cash benefits that were accruing to their bank account.

Launched in February 2019 from Uttar Pradesh, the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme provides ₹6,000 annually to eligible farmer families in three equal instalments of ₹2,000 every four months through direct benefit transfer.

Up to the 21st instalment released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November 2025, a total amount of ₹90,354.32 crore under the scheme has been transferred to over 2.15 crore beneficiaries in UP. Initially, the scheme was meant only for small and marginal farmers but later the benefits were extended to all farmers.

Even as the 22nd instalment is expected to be released before Holi, official data shared by the Union government show that 11,07,498 cases have been marked under suspected spouse data, where both husband and wife from the same landholding family are suspected to be drawing benefits.

Another 33,466 cases relate to suspected minor data, where instalments are being received in the name of minors, who are not eligible under the scheme.

As many as 12,30,192 cases have been flagged under invalid previous land owner data. These relate to instances where a person who has transferred or sold land is suspected to be continuing to receive installments. In 3,10,931 cases, both previous and current landowners are suspected to be receiving benefits linked to the same landholding following a transfer.

Further, 2,91,908 cases fall under mutation for reasons other than inheritance. While inheritance allows transfer of eligibility to legal heirs, mutation arising out of sale, gift, partition or other reasons may alter eligibility, and such cases have been flagged for scrutiny.

“In total, 29,73,995 beneficiaries in the state have been flagged for verification. The state’s agriculture and revenue departments are examining the bonafides of these beneficiaries following the Centre’s directives,” a senior agriculture department official said.

Separately, in cases not reflected in the flagged figures, several beneficiaries have voluntarily refunded the financial assistance after realising they were not entitled under the scheme. More than ₹100 crore has so far been returned to the Centre. However, the agriculture department does not have data on the number of farmers who have made such refunds.

“The amount is known, but we do not know as to how many farmers have done this or related details. Banks are not able to make this data available to us so far,” the official said.