New Delhi: A proper to information (RTI) question filed by The Wire has revealed that crores of rupees credited into farmers’ bills under the Modi government’s bold PM Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) scheme had been reversed inside a few hours.
The BJP has been championing the PM-Kisan Yojana as a major accomplishment in its rallies for the continuing Lok Sabha elections. Launched on February 24, PM Modi defined the scheme as an enormous step towards improving farmers’ conditions.
However, documents accessed via The Wire display that the deposits of Rs 2,000 – given to lots of farmers within the first installment shape – have been reversed within a few hours or a few days in a few instances. The scheme provides Rs 6,000 yearly, in three installments of Rs 2,000, to farmers who own land totaling hectares or less.
In reaction to the RTI query, of the nineteen countrywide banks in u. S. A ., the State Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, UCO Bank, Syndicate Bank, and Canara Bank admitted that for several beneficiaries, the cash credited within the farmers’ money owed underneath the PM-Kisan Yojana has given that been debited.
Banks declare a lack of information about debited finances.
The State Bank of India (SBI), India’s biggest bank, said that there were 27,307 such bills until March 8, 2019, and a complete of Rs five.46 crore had been deposited and then reversed. The SBI additionally said that it had credited Rs 854. Eighty-five crore in about forty-two, seventy-four,000 accounts till March eight, 2019, below the PM-Kisan scheme.
Similarly, the Bank of Maharashtra showed that a number of the money deposited within the farmers’ accounts underneath the scheme had been deducted. The financial institution said that it had deposited around Rs 37.70 crore in 1,88,000 accounts so far, of which Rs sixty-one. 2 lakh has been reversed.
According to this response, the cash deposited underneath the PM’s farmer scheme has been debited with the Bank of Maharashtra’s aid from almost three,060 farmers’ debts.
Meanwhile, in reaction to the RTI query, the UCO Bank said that by way of February 24, Rs fifty-eight. 38 lakh changed into debited from 2,919 accounts. The assistant standard manager of the financial institution, A.K. Barua, stated that the price was reversed because of the beneficiaries’ wrong account numbers or different troubles concerning Aadhaar cards.
However, upon further inquiries by using The Wire approximately whether or not the beneficiaries’ account quantity was later corrected and bills processed again, the bank did not reply. According to information, the UCO bank had deposited Rs 30.28 crore in 1 fifty-one 000 accounts underneath the PM-Kisan scheme until February 24.
Another countrywide bank, Syndicate Bank, responded to the RTI question by announcing that because it needed to collect the data from distinctive branches across us, the facts cannot accept below Section 7 (9).
In response to the RTI, Andhra Bank claimed that it had deposited around Rs one hundred seventy crores in nearly eight,54,000 debts. Of this, Rs ninety,50,02,178 were “withdrawn.” When The Wire sought clarification, the financial institution’s widespread supervisor M. Satyanarayan Reddy claimed that the debited quantity – that is more than Rs ninety crore – had been withdrawn by using farmers.
However, he became unable to explain how the financial institution decided whether the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 from an account was made from the quantity deposited below the PM-Kisan scheme rather than an ordinary withdrawal through the account holder from his or her own financial savings.
Another nationalized bank, Canara Bank, has recounted that several such cases have surfaced where the cash deposited below the PM-Kisan scheme turned into debit. However, the bank didn’t offer statistics about the whole wide variety of such cases.
While Canara Bank has maintained that the price became reversed because the farmers’ account numbers had been wrong, several cases have come to mild wherein the money had been withdrawn from accounts of eligible beneficiary farmers. But the bank gave no rationalization in this context. The bank claimed that a complete of Rs 1,43,77, eighty-four,000 was deposited in round 7,18,892 bills until March 20 beneath the PM-Kisan scheme.
Funds mysteriously deducted from farmers’ bills.
Despite a substantial range of instances of withdrawal of funds deposited below the PM-Kisan scheme, the Union agriculture ministry claims to haven’t any information. The Farmers’ Welfare Department of the agriculture ministry stated, in reaction to an RTI query, that the country authorities are liable for reporting such cases and that no such statistics have been acquired through the department to date.
The ministry stated that Rs 60,05,48, fifty-eight,000 were deposited in the bills of almost three,00,27,429 farmers as the first installment below the PM-Kisan scheme among December 2018 31 March 31.
During February, several media reports claimed that farmers had complained approximately that Rs 2,000 deposited in their accounts became reversed within a few hours or days.
Mirror Now spoke to farmers in Maharashtra who showed the messages they’d obtained on their telephones and alleged that the cash turned into withdrawn from their account without their know-how.
Ashok Lahamage, a Maharashtra farmer, told the Hindu BusinessLine that he had received an SMS from the State Bank of India’s Sinnar (Nashik) branch, stating that Rs 2,000 were deposited into his account. But, to his surprise, he obtained any other text message from the financial institution, some hours later, declaring that the money deposited has been debited.
The information portal wrote that he had become now not the most effective farmer in Maharashtra with this criticism. Over 1,000 farmers in Nanded district in the Marathwada location of the nation have been bowled over after they got here to understand that the money deposited of their accounts become withdrawn.
The National Herald additionally stated several such cases from the Jaunpur district in Uttar Pradesh in which the cash deposited in farmers’ money owed turned into deducted some hours later.
Ramashankar Sharma, a resident of Baripar, said that there had been a sigh of alleviation in his circle of relatives as soon as they were given a message pronouncing that Rs 2,000 were credited into their account.
But when he went to his bank (Union Bank of India) to update the passbook, he determined that the credited amount have been debited lower back a couple of minutes later. Sharma has less than zero. Three acres of land. He runs a barbershop along to assist his circle of relatives.
Somnath Pandey, who owns 1.5 acres of land in the Jaunpur district, too had a comparable experience. When the first installment of Rs 2,000 was taken returned, Shamnath went to the District Agricultural Officer but wasn’t given a great answer.
The Wire has e-mailed a list of questions to the CEO of the PM-Kisan scheme and the joint secretary of agriculture. But no response has been obtained yet.
Responses have also been sought from several banks, which include the SBI and the Canara Bank. But they have got not replied either.
