As per latest information, over 7 lakh farmers will have to return the money received under PM Kisan Scheme as they have been found ineligible. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had released the 10th installment of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana on 1 January 2022.
The ineligible beneficiaries either pay income tax for earnings from other sources or are not eligible to take the benefit of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana for some other reason.
A government official said, “Such ineligible beneficiaries will have an amnesty till the assembly polls in the states are over, but after that, they will start getting notices asking them to repay the amount voluntarily or be ready for recovery in keeping with the Central government’s guidelines.”
The official on condition of anonymity told that “Any farmer, who is found ineligible or income-tax payee, is required to give back the amount. The concerning state authorities are supposed to recover the money passed on to ineligible/income-tax payee farmers & deposit the same into the government of India account as per the standard operating procedure finalized by the central government’s department of agriculture & farmers welfare”.
He added that the Centre had identified 7.23 lakh ineligible farmers as having received cash benefits under the scheme, despite being income-tax payees or being ineligible otherwise till October 2021. He said, “The number of such farmers identified in the whole country was estimated to be 42.73 lakh”.
The state government has been asked to recover the amount from the ineligible farmers & deposit the same into the Centre’s account. Authorities have not sent the notices to such ineligible farmers due to Kisan Andolan (protest) that went on for a year before the Government repealed the three controversial farm laws & also because of upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.
A minister in the UP government said the issue was politically sensitive adding that “But the government will have to act in accordance with the Centre’s guidelines to make sure that only eligible beneficiaries avail the benefits of PM-KISAN”.
About PM Kisan
Under this scheme, the central government gives Rs. 6,000 per year in three installments to the farmers. UP has the highest number of beneficiaries at around 2.50 crore.
