PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme: These farmers will have to return Rs 11 crore, here's why

The central government will withdraw the amount of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi from more than 25,000 farmers. In the year 2020, thousands of ineligible farmers of Raigad district had registered and taken advantage of this scheme. When this got revealed, the Agriculture Department started the process to recover the amount sent to the accounts of ineligible farmers. Till now, notice has been sent to 400 people. It has been told that an amount of about Rs 11 crore is to be recovered from ineligible farmers.

PM-KISAN is the ambitious scheme rolled out the Modi government to disburse monetary help directly to farmers. Under this scheme, Rs 6,000 is transferred to farming families every year in three tranches. There are 11 crore total beneficiaries registered under the scheme. The funds are meant to help farmers with financial troubles hindering agricultural activities.

Till July 2020, around 20.5 lakh farmers, who should have been included in the scheme, received payouts under the PM-KISAN scheme, reported The Hindu. According to Agriculture Ministry, 56 percent of undeserving beneficiaries belonged to the 'income tax payee' category, while the rest belonged to 'ineligible farmers' category.

Punjab had the highest number of such discrepancies, accounting for 23 percent farmers who wrongly received funds under PM-KISAN scheme, the daily reported. Maharashtra saw 17 percent of these cases, whereas Assam had 14 percent of the cases. Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh account for 8 percent cases of each.

Some farmers had registered themselves online for this scheme, while some had registered through brokers. The Department of Agriculture had deposited the amount of the scheme in the bank accounts of the farmers without investigation.

When the farmers' Aadhaar card and loan book were matched through the Bhuinya software, case of discrepancy was exposed. Investigation revealed that 25,000 farmers in the district are ineligible for this scheme and money has been sent to their accounts. So, now the department is busy in collecting the amount.

Under this scheme, farmers who pay income tax or are in a constitutional post may not get the benefit of this scheme. Apart from this, someone who does not have land in his name also does not get the benefit of this scheme.

According to Lalit Mohan Bhagat, Deputy Director of Agriculture Department, there are over 25 thousand farmers in Raigad district from whom Rs 11 crore have to be recovered by the department.