41,000 ineligible farmers asked to return money
Notices have been served to 41,833 beneficiaries, including 38,109 income tax payees, to deposit the money they received
KARNAL : Launched with much fanfare ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) scheme is now giving sleepless nights to thousands of Haryana farmers who have been found ineligible and told to return the money already paid to them.
According to the data with the state agriculture department, 41,833 farmers, including 38,109 income tax payees, have been served notices for the recovery of ₹41.01 crore paid to them since the scheme was launched in February 2019.
Union government’s Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme was aimed at to provide income support to all landholding farmers’ families in the country to supplement their financial needs. Under the scheme, all landholding farmers’ families are provided ₹6,000 per family per annum payable in three instalments of ₹2,000 each.
The ineligible farmers are from across the state, including 3,297 from Kurukshetra district, 2,699 (Kaithal), 2,645 (Bhiwani), 2,461 (Karnal), 2,434 (Jind) and 2,307 from Hisar.
“Several steps were taken by the government, including social audit and seedlings of Aadhaar cards which reflected that a large number of farmers are income tax payees and have other sources of income,” said a senior official of the agriculture department, requesting anonymity. Now, the recovery has become a major challenge for the government as most of the farmers are reluctant to pay back. Out of 38,109 income tax payee farmers, only 241 paid back ₹23.60 lakh to the government. From the other category, 129 farmers returned ₹11.28 lakh.
Since the government imposed certain conditions to avail the benefits of the scheme, the number of beneficiaries came down to nearly 14 lakh in July this year from around 19 lakh enrolled when the scheme was launched.
Details on the PM Kisan portal show that the first instalment, released two months before the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, was paid to 18.98 lakh farmers in Haryana and the 7th instalment was paid to only 13.76 lakh.
Randeep Singh Mann of Karnal’s Ballah village, who is among around 200 farmers told to return the money, said, “This Kisan Samman scheme has become a source of insult. Now, they are asking me to return ₹2,000 paid to me as the first instalment because a shop is also registered in my name.”
Since most of those rendered ineligible are income tax payee, farmers are raising questions why they included their names in the list of beneficiaries as the government had all the details.
Virender Singh from Lakhmari village of Kurukshetra district, who has already returned ₹12,000 to the government, said, “I have already returned the money but my question is why they paid me when they had my details when the scheme was launched.”
“When the scheme was launched by the centre government, there was no condition that an income tax payee is not eligible for the scheme. We are bound to follow the fresh instructions,” said a senior officer of Haryana agriculture department. “All those having sources of income other than agriculture have been declared ineligible,” he said.
When contacted, Hardeep Singh, director general, Haryana agriculture department, said, “On the instructions of the Centre, notices were issued to the ineligible farmers for the recovery. Most of them are income tax payee.”
On what action will be taken if farmers didn’t return the money, he said if there is no response even after the second notice, the issue will be discussed with the government for next step.