More than 1 lakh fake PM-Kisan beneficiaries found in ‘top performer’ Karnataka

Karnataka has repeatedly ranked among the top five states in terms of PM-Kisan scheme implementation. However, now it has emerged that around Rs 442 crore has been credited to fraudulent accounts. The “beneficiaries” include dead farmers and ineligible persons.

PM-Kisan is a flagship scheme of the Centre’s BJP government, and Karnataka is a state where the party’s “double-engine” government is ruling. The discovery of more than a lakh “fake accounts” in such a state does not augur well for the government, especially at a time when Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra is on full steam through it.

The top five states to have successfully implemented the scheme include Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh. The Union government has appreciated the state for having 97 per cent Aadhar-authenticated data. More than 90 per cent of the beneficiaries get the benefits through Aadhar-based payment modes.

Also read: PM-KISAN: Nearly ₹3,000 Cr has gone to 42 lakh ineligible farmer families

What is PM-Kisan scheme?

The PM-Kisan scheme was launched on February 24, 2019. Only the families of small and marginal farmers (SMFs), with combined landholdings of up to two hectares, were eligible for the scheme. It was later revised and extended to all farmer families, irrespective of the size of landholding.

Institutional landholders, government employees, income taxpayers, farmer families holding constitutional posts, professionals such as doctors, engineers, and lawyers, and pensioners are not eligible for the scheme.

Beneficiaries get Rs 6,000 per year in three instalments. The amount goes directly to the account holder’s account.

Also read: Govt pays ₹1,364 cr to 20 lakh people not eligible for PM-KISAN

Fraudulent accounts

However, it has emerged that thousands of “beneficiaries” in Karnataka are income taxpayers, dead persons, and other fraudulent candidates. Agriculture commissioner Sharat Babu has sought the State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC), Karnataka, to recover the amounts paid to those fraudulent accounts to remit those to the Union government. Around Rs 7.71 crore has been recovered till now.

The Centre has identified 104,840 beneficiaries as income taxpayers, and 73,606 of them got at least one instalment. Thus, Rs 807,378,000 went to those accounts, sources revealed. Rs 60,526,515 has already been recovered from these income taxpayers from various banks. However, banks have not provided the complete list of beneficiaries from whom the money has been recovered.

Interestingly, 3,312 beneficiaries have been reported “dead,” but the amount transferred to their accounts is yet to be ascertained. The agriculture commissioner has requested the SLBC to make sure banks recover the amounts credited to these accounts after the beneficiaries’ death before closing their accounts. However, some banks have reportedly not yet sent the beneficiaries’ Aadhaar numbers and dates of death for the beneficiary status to be updated on the PM-Kisan portal.

Also read: With government policies, farmers’ debts shoot up while incomes wilt

How the fraud happened

The Centre offers an option to farmers for self-registration on the PM-Kisan portal through the mobile app and the Citizen Service Centres. The total number of self-registered farmers in the state, as available on the portal, is 382,801. The number of approvals is 203,819.

An official said that the fraud might have happened due to the online registration being kept open. The lack of verification was also one of the reasons for the fraud.

The state, while going through various reports on the PM-Kisan portal, noticed a suspiciously large number of enrolments in Chitradurga district, sources said. Agriculture department officers verified these records.

Also read: ‘PayFarmer’: Karnataka farmers’ body picks up viral ‘PayCM’ campaign

Damage control

Based on the reports of the Chitradurga joint director of agriculture, the list of fraudulent registrations has been sent to banks with the beneficiary’s name, account number, and the amount received unduly. The banks will freeze those accounts. The agriculture department has requested banks to recover Rs 42.43 crore from 87,212 ineligible beneficiaries.

Agriculture commissioner Sharat Babu wrote to A Muralikrishna, convener, SLBC Karnataka, “As of now, Rs 12,100,000 has been recovered from these fraudulent registrations at various banks, but the details of such beneficiaries have not been provided.”