Govt recovers Rs 416 cr from ineligible farmers under PM-KISAN: Centre

The government has recovered Rs 416 crore from ineligible farmers under the flagship scheme PM-KISAN since its launch in 2019, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan told Lok Sabha on Tuesday. 

Chouhan, in a written reply, said the central government has disbursed over Rs 3.68 trillion to farmers in 19 installments since inception. 

Under the PM-KISAN scheme, launched in February 2019, a financial benefit of Rs 6,000 per year is transferred in three equal instalments, into the Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts of farmers through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode. 

"An amount of Rs 416 crore has been recovered from the ineligible beneficiaries so far across the country," he said. The minister explained that the PM-KISAN scheme initially started on a trust-based system, where beneficiaries were registered by the states on a self-certification basis. Initially, Aadhaar seeding was also relaxed for some of the states, he said. 

 

Later on, to address this, several technological interventions were introduced, including integration with PFMS, UIDAI, and the Income Tax Department. In order to ensure that benefits are released only to the eligible beneficiaries, land seeding, Aadhaar-based payment and eKYC have been made mandatory. 

Chouhan said the benefits of the farmers, who did not meet these mandatory criteria, were stopped. "As and when these farmers complete their mandatory requirements, they will receive the benefits of the scheme along with their due installments, if any," he said. 

Further, states and Union Territories have been mandated to recover any amount transferred to ineligible farmers marked due to higher income groups such as income tax payees, employees of PSUs, state and central government, Constitutional post holders, etc. 

The minister informed that Aadhaar is one of the key parameters for establishing identity of the farmers in scheme and the benefits of the scheme are transferred to only Aadhaar authenticated farmers. 

At present, 100 per cent of PM KISAN beneficiaries' database is Aadhaar-seeded, authenticated and e-KYC verified. From the 15th installment cycle of the scheme (August 2023 - November 2023), Aadhaar-based e-KYC has also been made mandatory under the scheme. 

Chouhan said the registration of farmers in the scheme is an ongoing process and they can self-register themselves online through the PM-Kisan portal.