With five non-BJP ruled states/UT - West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Sikkim and Delhi - refusing to logged in to the Centre¡¯s ambitious ¡®assured income support¡¯ scheme (PM-Kisan) for small and marginal farmers, only one-fourth of over 12 crore potential beneficiaries in the country could get Rs 2,000 each into their bank accounts till the end of the first instalment exercise which is to be over on Sunday.
None of the farmers from these five states/UT could get money under the scheme as the state governments either refused to share data with the Centre or desisted from verifying the details of their farmers.
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As a result, over 1.98 crore small and marginal farmers of these five states/UT won¡¯t be even considered for their entitlement of second instalment of Rs2,000 each till the parliamentary polls are over next month.
Analysis of the latest data on PM-Kisan, accessed by the TOI, shows that over 2.97 crore beneficiaries could get their first instalment of Rs 2,000 each as on Saturday with officials expecting this figure to cross over 3 crore as they logged out of the current round on Sunday. Accordingly, the total amount to be paid to the beneficiaries will cross over Rs 6,000 crore.
The process of disbursing second instalment to over 3 crore farmers, who already got first instalment as per the list received before the model code of conduct for general elections comes into force, will begin on Monday.
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Though other non-BJP rules states - Punjab(Congress), Andhra Pradesh (TDP), Telangana (TRS), Tamil Nadu (AIADMK), Odisha (BJD), Kerala (LDF) and Chhattisgarh(Congress) - participated in it with the Punjab even figuring among top states in availing the benefits for farmers, the enthusiasm towards the scheme appeared to be mostly limited to the BJP ruled states.
Five of the top six states in terms of beneficiaries are the BJP-ruled ones. Although Uttar Pradesh with over 1.11 crorebeneficiaries figures at the top in terms of absolute number, Haryana and Gujrat took the cake where more than 70% of their small and marginal farmers could get money into their accounts as on Saturday.
Since the Centre received data of merely 4.76 crore farmers, including over 3 croreverified ones, from across the country till the model code of conduct comes into force on March 10, the fate of remaining potential beneficiaries will be decided only after the parliamentary elections.
¡°We, however, still hope to bring them on board provided the states get back to us after verification of those submitted data. We have been working on holidays and weekends to bring the benefits to as many farmers as possible,¡± said a senior agriculture ministry official.
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Under PM-Kisan, each of over 12 crore eligible small and marginal landholder farmer families who have cultivable land up to 2 hectares (little less than five acres), subject to certain exclusions, will get Rs 6,000 per annum in three equal instalments every four months in a financial year.
Since the government made it operational with effect from December 1, 2018, the first instalment is to be transferred to bank accounts of each of this category of farmers by March 31.