Registration of farmers for Central government scheme, PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, is very low in State, even while a large number of farmers, who registered, have benefited from it, a study has found.
The study by Libtech India has recommended that the State government should conduct campaigns during the registration period to ensure that maximum number of farmers benefit from the scheme.
The data driven study from 32 districts in the State notes that only 38.4 lakh farmers have been registered so far since inception, eligible to receive over 2.8 crore instalments amounting to ₹5,664 crore cash benefit. However, Rythu Bandhu covers 25 lakh more farmers, which shows the huge unachieved gap for Kisan Nidhi, the report noted.
On the implementation side, 89% of farmers in beneficiary list have received all the instalments, with 9% receiving partial and less than 2% not receiving any instalment. Total amount of missed instalments in Telangana accounts for ₹353 crore and the reasons largely include bank rejections, payments stopped by State, and Aadhaar verifications.
Even after excluding farmers who are income tax payees, ROFR farmers and multiple beneficiaries from single family, 25 lakh is a huge number, and indicates that eligible farmers are losing money from the central government, the study notes. It is high time that the State government had reviewed the scheme’s implementation and ensured that all the eligible farmers receive the benefits.
Apart from conducting campaigns, the Department of Agriculture should seek support from PR Department for resolution of bank rejections, the study recommended.
The Kisan Samman Nidhi devised in 2018 promises cash benefit of ₹6,000 per annum, payable in three instalments of ₹2,000 each through DBT mode. All bank accounts are vetted through various steps for valid Aadhaar cards before States check the applicant’s eligibility to get the amount.
