BHUBANESWAR: Even as the Centre released the 7th instalment of Rs 2,000 under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, a large number of eligible farmers are still deprived of the financial benefit as their names have not been enlisted.
As per the data available with Union Agriculture Ministry, payment for the December-March period of 2020-21 fiscal has been made to the accounts of 24,79,794 farmers against the total registered beneficiaries of 40,50,115. About 39 per cent (pc) of the beneficiaries have not received payment due to problem in data validation, official sources said.
After the PM-Kisan was launched on February 24, 2019, as many as 37,00,578 farmers registered their names under the scheme. Of them, 36,70,489 received the first phase assistance for December-March period of 2018-19. However, the number of beneficiaries came down to 31,58, 589 during the release of the second instalment. There was further dip in the number to 23,97,723 during the disbursement of third instalment and 20,76,894 for fourth dose while 20,03,185 farmers got the fifth instalment under the scheme. It was found that only 20,01,292 farmers received a net sum of Rs 400.26 crore in the sixth instalment.
Blaming the State government for depriving a large number of farmers from the benefit of the Central scheme, State BJP general secretary Golak Mohaptra said though the number of registered beneficiaries in the State had increased to over 40.50 lakh, a large number of farmers are not getting the benefits due to improper data provided to the Centre. Data validation is most important. Any discrepancy in data will automatically reject the application, he added.
It has been more than two years of launching of both PM-Kisan and the State sponsored KALIA scheme for providing financial assistance to farmers. “We failed to understand how the State government identified 53 lakh farmers for KALIA when it is not able to provide correct list of farmers to the Centre,” he wondered.Agriculture Minister Arun Sahu has assured the Assembly that the list of eligible beneficiaries will be made public. Even after more than one and half years, the list is yet to be finalised.
Downward trend
First phase assistance: 36,70,489 farmers
Second instalment: 31,58, 589
Third phase: 23,97,723
Fourth : 20,76,894
Fifth: 20,03,185
Sixth: 20,01,292