Lost in translation: Maha farmers bear brunt of tech trouble

Several farmers in Sangli district of western Maharashtra had to face hardships after their names got translated into English while enrolling for the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, commonly known as the PM- Kisan Yojana.

A farmer whose name is Uttam, appeared in the online form as 'Best', the surname Sutar got turned into 'Carpenter', Bhagwan was translated as 'Lord', and a farmer with Mali as surname was included as 'Gardener'.

The goof-ups came to light after the administration uploaded the list of the scheme beneficiaries. Under this scheme, farmers are given Rs 6,000 per year in 3 installments of Rs 2,000 each. The purpose of the scheme is to provide financial support to small and marginal farmers.

The erroneous translation took place at the ground level during the enrollment of farmers for the scheme, a district administration official said.

"Last year, ground level officials like talathis and gram sevaks were tasked with enrolling names of farmers for the scheme. They were given a list of farmers from the revenue department's website which was in Marathi.

"As the number of farmers was large, the ground staff and operators used the Google translation tool, got it (list) translated into Marathi and sent it for further processing," said Yasin Patel, the scheme co-ordinator in Sangli district.

Google's free service instantly translates words, phrases, and web pages between English and over 100 other languages.

The input language for the PM-Kisan portal is English, he said. The scheme benefits were given using account numbers and Aadhar details and many farmers got money in their accounts, he added.

"This (auto translation) was purely a data entry issue and it is being rectified," he said.

A farmer beneficiary whose name is Uttam Maruti Talap said he has received his installments but his name in the list of the beneficiaries was translated as 'Best'.

"I have received three installments and the fourth one did not come due to the change in the name. We have now rectified the name in the system," he said.

Popat Sutar, another farmer from Bawachi village narrated a similar tale. He said that last year, he received his installments on time. "This time, as there was a mistake in my surname, I have not received my installment," he said.

There are four to five farmers whose surnames are Sutar and all of them have suffered due to this goof-up, he said.