India undertakes major 'clean up' of PM-Kisan database, 1.72 crore beneficiaries found ineligible

The Indian government has undertaken a massive drive to verify the PM-Kisan database and eliminate beneficiaries without valid credentials. This exercise, which began in early 2022, has resulted in the removal of 16.42% of PM-Kisan beneficiaries from the database, as they were found to be ineligible.

As per the sources, the database has now shrunk from 10.47 crore beneficiaries to 8.75 crore, with 1.72 crore losing their eligibility for three main reasons. Firstly, lack of authentic land records, second, ineligible categories like pensioners and income tax payees availing benefits and third, lack of Aadhaar seeded bank accounts.

Sources claim that beneficiaries without genuine land records accounted for a significant portion, approximately 25%, or roughly 43 crore of the 1.72 crore removed beneficiaries.

Furthermore, a lack of Aadhaar-verified bank accounts for PM-Kisan fund transfers is a prevalent issue. Sources indicate that the potential number of PM-Kisan beneficiaries could be as high as 9.5 crore, which is 75 lakh more than the current count.

These individuals possess authentic land details and verified Aadhaar information but have not linked their Aadhaar with their bank accounts, meaning they lack an Aadhaar-verified bank account for subsidy transfers. The government intends to include them in the beneficiary list as soon as this gap is addressed.

Sources explain that the PM-Kisan scheme was initially implemented on a “trust based model” wherein individuals were included on self declarations of their land holdings and income status. (As per the eligibility guidelines, all farmer families must have land ownership and Aadhar seeded bank accounts among other important income related guidelines).

However, as the government began verifying the database, it found numerous beneficiaries who did not meet the eligibility guidelines. These discrepancies included incorrect land details, false land declarations, discrepancies in bank account details, and the inclusion of ineligible categories such as pensioners and tax payees.

Meanwhile, states, responsible for identifying farmer families under PM-Kisan, have been asked to recover the transferred money from ineligible beneficiaries. The Centre estimates that out of the total payment of 2.59 lakh crore since PM-Kisan's launch, approximately 6,000 crore, or around 2.3% of the amount, needs to be recovered. States like Bihar and Telangana are among the states that are actively pursuing this recovery effort.