Nearly 44 per cent of the funds transferred under the PM-Kisan scheme during Covid-19 lockdown may have failed to reach the accounts of the beneficiaries, according to information obtained from the agriculture department under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. PM-Kisan cash transfer scheme was launched in February 2019. Under the scheme, income support of Rs 6,000 is annually provided in three equal installments to small and marginal farmer families with combined landholding of up to 2 hectares.
The department said 1.12 million fund transfer failures were reported across the country between March 23 and July 31. As many as 63,30,00, or over 56 per cent of the failed transactions as of July 31, were eventually successfully reprocessed.
Madhya Pradesh accounted for the largest 64.55 per cent of failed transactions (72,90,00) followed by Maharashtra with 85,000 (7.54%). Karnataka reported over 55,000 failures, Bihar 51,000, and Uttar Pradesh 48,000 failures. “Together these five states accounted for almost 86 per cent of the total fund transfer failures during the Covid-19 lockdown,” said activist Venkatesh Nayak, who filed the RTI application for information on fund transfers.As many as 96 per cent or 61,20,00 of failed transactions were reprocessed in Madhya Pradesh followed by Maharashtra 12,810 and Uttar Pradesh 1,986.
Nayak said the data given to him was until July 31. He added it may have been updated but is not publicly accessible. Nayak said the funds involved were not indicated in the response. “…if one were to assume that each case of transfer failure pertains to one installment of Rs 2,000, the total amount involved is more than Rs 22.58 lakhs. However, how many beneficiaries were affected is also not known.”
Nayak said almost 44 per cent of the failed transactions remained to be reprocessed. “…all of them might have been reprocessed successfully at the time of writing of these findings.”