From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Contrary to the Modi government’s claim of no leakage of funds in its programmes since they are now linked with Aadhaar, it had paid over Rs 2,589 crore to 58.08 lakh ineligible farmers under the Aadhaar-based PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme since its inception in December 2016 to disburse Rs 6,000 to each small and marginal farmer in three instalments of Rs 2,000.
Despite the money going directly into the bank accounts of the farmers, as many as 24% (13.73 lakh) beneficiaries are the income-tax beneficiaries, a RTI (right to information) replyrevealed, just as the last instalment of the financial year is to be released soon. The government has already ordered an inquiry into how the money is going into the wrong hands. The reply came early this month from the Centre’s Department of Agriculture & Farmer Welfare.
The PM-KISAN website states that institutional landholders and farmer families, where at least one member is an income tax payer, are ineligible to become a beneficiary under the PM-KISAN scheme.
“Prima facie, this RTI response seems to be a damning indictment of claims that Aadhaar will reduce leakages in welfare schemes. As this RTI response states, Aadhaar linkage is a pre-condition for registering for PM-KISAN benefits. This then raises the question as to how, despite Aadhaar linkage, those paying income tax received PM-KISAN benefits in the first place,” points out Nachiket Udupa, a member of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan.
He said the Government should admi that Aadhaar is a failure in curbing corruption. Based on the RTI reply, he said the government should go for a sicial audit of PM-Kisan scheme. He underscored that merely claiming that there are leakages taking place – without putting into place measures to improve transparency and accountability in the system to prevent these leakages from taking place – make the claims ring hollow,
Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of the ineligible persons pocketing money by registering as small farmers, Assam has the highest amount yet to be recovered from the bogus farmers. Even in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, where there are 2.3 lakh ineligible farmers, Rs 191 crore has to be recovered from them.
As of February 2022, Uttar Pradesh has recorded the highest number of ineligible farmers at 14.9 lakh from whom Rs 98 crore has to be recovered. This is followed, surprisingly, by Assam, which has 13.35 lakh ineligible farmers from whom a whopping Rs 768.3 crore has to be recovered. Both states are ruled by the BJP.
RTI activist Avinandan Jana, who gathered the data of pilferage in the PM-KIsan scheme says the Government has to recover Rs 1,067 crore from the income-tax payees, many of whom were earning from businesses and not as farmers. He claims several of the bogus beneficiaries were added to the lists with the knowledge of the district authorities.
Maharashtra has 3.3 lakh ineligible farmers from whom Rs 151.6 crore has to be recovered, 2.6 lakh of whom are the income-tax payees. Tamil Nadu, which has 8.3 lakh ineligible farmers comes third, from whom Rs 85 crore has to be recovered. But, BJP-ruled Karnataka has only 2.4 lakh ineligible farmers, though Rs 123 crore has to be recovered from them.
Under the scheme, the responsibility to identify the beneficiaries and upload their correct and verified data on PM-KISAN Portal lies with the respective state government, stated the Agriculture Ministry in response to a question in the Rajya Sabha on February 11, 2022.
Another irregularity of the PM-KISAN beneficiary list is that in states such Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Telangana and West Bengal, the number of income tax payee farmers who have received benefits is higher than the total number of ineligible farmers on the list.
Gujarat has 2.1 lakh IT payee farmers compared to 63,860 ineligible farmers, Andhra Pradesh has 99,690 IT payee farmers, while the total number of ineligible farmers is 33,156. In case of Telangana, it is 1 lakh and 12,899 respectively; in West Bengal, it is 25,500 and 21,077 respectively.
It has been specified in the scheme that families with the following members are ineligible: former and present holders of constitutional posts; former and present ministers at the Central and state level, former and present Members of Parliament, Members of Legislative Assemblies and Legislative Councils, former and present Mayors of Municipal Corporations and former and present Chairpersons of District Panchayats; all serving and retired officers and employees of Central and state Governments, Central and state public sector enterprises and autonomous institutions under government as well as regular employees of Local Bodies except multi-tasking staff, Class IV and Group D employees; all pensioners receiving monthly pension of Rs 10,000 or more, excluding multi-tasking staff, Class IV and Group D employees; all persons who paid income tax in the last assessment year; and professionals such as doctors, engineers, chartered accountants and architects registered with professional bodies and carrying out profession by undertaking practices.
