The Ministry of Agriculture on Friday informed that nearly 2.69 lakh beneficiaries could not get the first tranche under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme and state governments have been asked to correct discrepancies found in their bank details. The scheme envisages to cover approximately 14.50 crore beneficiaries across the country subject to exclusion criteria. The responsibility of identifying and uploading details of beneficiaries solely lies with the State/Union Territories.
Stating that many states have rolled out the scheme, Minister of State for Agriculture Parshottam Rupala during the Question Hour urged the West Bengal and Delhi governments to implement the scheme at the earliest and ensure benefits reach farmers.
"The issue of non-availability of authenticated land records in Manipur, Nagaland and Jharkhand has been sorted out. In Jharkhand where land records have not been updated since 1932, the state government has been asked to update it soon", Rupala told in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.
The PM-KISAN scheme, launched in February just before the Lok Sabha polls, aims to provide Rs 6,000 annually in three equal instalments directly into the bank account of 14.5 crore farmers holding up to 2 hectare land.
So far, the first instalment of Rs 2,000 has been released to bank accounts of 4.14 crore farmers in the country, while the second tranche to 3.17 crore farmers, each amounting to Rs 8290.6 crore and Rs 6355.8 crore, respectively, the Minister said in his written reply to the Upper House.