New Delhi: The Indian government has demonstrated its commitment to transparency and accountability in its flagship PM-Kisan scheme, recovering a substantial amount of money from ineligible beneficiaries. In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Agriculture Bhagirath Chaudhary revealed that Rs 335 crore has been recouped from people who falsely claimed benefits under the program.
The PM-Kisan scheme, launched in February 2019, provides annual income support of Rs 6,000 to eligible farmers, disbursed in three instalments of Rs 2,000 each. While the initial rollout adopted a self-certification process, relying on the states to identify beneficiaries, this approach proved susceptible to fraudulent claims.
The government’s response to initial flaws included a push to link Aadhaar with farmers’ accounts, although this requirement was initially relaxed for some states, demonstrating a phased approach to implementation. Crucially, technological advancements played a central role in identifying ineligible recipients. This involved integrating the scheme with public financial management systems, land records, and income tax data. The implementation of mandatory land seeding, coupled with Aadhaar-based payments and e-KYC, significantly improved verification and fraud detection capabilities.
The recoveries were undertaken collaboratively by the central government and various state governments, illustrating the successful inter-agency cooperation crucial for tackling fraud within large-scale social welfare programs. The minister emphasised the government’s commitment to transparency, highlighting the disbursement of over Rs 3.46 lakh crore in 18 instalments to legitimate beneficiaries. T
“Maintaining absolute transparency in registering and verifying beneficiaries, the Government of India has disbursed over Rs 3.46 lakh crore in 18 instalments, so far,” Union minister of state for agriculture Bhagirath Chaudhary said in his written reply in Lok Sabha.
