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 within 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.
This is in reaction to the RTI query of the nineteen countrywide banks in you. S. A . The State Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, UCO Bank, Syndicate Bank, and Canara Bank admitted that the cash credited within the farmers’ money owed underneath the PM-Kisan Yojana has been debited for several beneficiaries.
Banks declare a lack of information about debited finances.
The State Bank of India (SBI), India’s biggest bank, said there were 27,307 such bills until March 8, 2019, and a total 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 some money deposited within the farmers’ accounts underneath the scheme had been deducted. The financial institution said it had deposited around Rs 37.70 crore in 1,88,000 accounts, 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 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 troubles concerning Aadhaar cards.
However, upon further inquiries by using The Wire approximately whether 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 be accepted below Section 7 (9).
In response to the RTI, Andhra Bank claimed 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 – more than Rs ninety crore – had been withdrawn by using farmers.
However, he could not 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 their financial savings.
Another nationalized bank, Canara Bank, has recounted several cases where the cash deposited below the PM-Kisan scheme turned into debt. However, the bank didn’t offer statistics about the wide variety of such claims.
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. However, the bank gave no rationalization in this context. The bank claimed that Rs 1,43,77, eighty-four,000 was deposited in round 7,18,892 bills until March 20 beneath the PM-Kisan scheme.
Funds were 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 not to have 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 from December 2018 to March 31 31.
During February, several media reports claimed that farmers had complained that approximately 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 had been 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 had been deposited into his account. But, to his surprise, he obtained another text message from the financial institution some hours later, declaring that the money deposited had been debited.
With this criticism, the information portal wrote that he had become the least effective farmer in Maharashtra. Over 1,000 farmers in the Nanded district in the Marathwada location of the nation have been bowled over after they got here to understand that the money deposited in their accounts had been withdrawn.
The National Herald additionally stated several cases from the Jaunpur district in Uttar Pradesh where the cash deposited in farmers’ money owed was 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 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 had been debited lower back a few 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 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.
Several banks have also sought responses, including the SBI and the Canara Bank. But they have not replied either.
