E-Paper
State cracks down on 1.33 million ineligible PM Kisan beneficiaries
Of nearly 11
Of nearly 11.59 million farmers in Maharashtra, who have been registered to get cash benefit under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, are a whopping 1.33 million beneficiaries who are technically not eligible but have somehow made it to the list and received ₹1,554.5 crore in the four years of the scheme’s implementation, agriculture department data reveals.
On the other hand, the state government’s efforts to hold those ‘farmers’ accountable have not produced the desired result as a meagre ₹92.74 crore has been recovered so far.
The scheme, under which the Central government credits ₹6,000 annually to the bank accounts of beneficiaries in three instalments, was implemented in April 2019.
The revelations come in the backdrop of an announcement made by deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in his budget speech that the state would provide farmers with ₹6,000 per annum, in addition to what they get under PM Kisan. The state scheme has been named after prime minister Narendra Modi as Namo Shetkari Sanman Yojana.
Government data shows the ineligible beneficiaries under the Central scheme include sitting and former elected representatives, other than ineligible farmers, income taxpayers, and professionals like doctors, advocates etc. As many as 3.97 lakh taxpayers have availed the benefit and the amount credited to their accounts stands at ₹468.18 crore while ₹1,086 crore have been given to 9.41 lakh ineligible farmers.
As a first step towards recovery, the agriculture department served notices. Thereafter, it obtained special permission from the finance department and asked the banks to auto-debit the amount from those accounts, an official, who refused to be named, said.
“However, in many accounts, there is zero balance. In such cases, the amount could be recovered after they have got the benefits like crop insurance or unseasonal rain compensation,” the official said.
The officer further said no criminal action could be initiated against those farmers as it would be politically inconvenient to the government. “The collectors of respective districts are making an entry of the outstanding in their land records, also known as 7/12 extract, which can stop them from receiving further benefits such as crop insurance, rain compensation etc. without clearing the dues.”
Finally, the government has managed to recover ₹77.07 lakh from income taxpayers and ₹15.67 lakh from ineligible farmers.
Another official from the agriculture department said after the government crackdown, the number of beneficiaries had come down.
“We are in the process of releasing the 14th instalment of ₹2,000. The number of beneficiaries has, however, dropped to 8.2 million, especially after the Central government made e-KYC and linking of Aadhaar mandatory. Besides the 1.33 million ineligible beneficiaries, there are about 1.8 million farmers who have not complied with the mandate,” he added.
Agriculture commissioner Sunil Chavan said, “It is true that the process of recovery is slow, but the district collectors are on the job.”
Rajan Kshirsagar, farmer activist and state working committee member of the Communist Party of India, said, “The government has now started the recovery of the amount, but it should first take responsibility for wrongly enrolling those who do not deserve the benefit. If the income taxpayers are enrolled as farmers, it clearly means they are saving their tax under the pretext of being farmers.”
