New Delhi: Taking a swipe at the Rajiv Gandhi government for its failure to check the pilferage of Central welfare funds, Minister of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday highlighted the gains from the Narendra Modi government’s direct benefit transfer (DBT), especially, under the PM-KISAN scheme.
He also denied any prejudice against Tamil Nadu farmers in the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme and offered to launch a special drive for the state, claiming that about 14,000 farmers were still out of the net as the state government needed to conduct inquiry and update applications on the portal.
Replying to a question by M.S. Tharaniventhan of DMK in Lok Sabha, Chouhan said gone are the days when a helpless Prime Minister had admitted that only 15 paise out of each rupee released by the Centre were reaching beneficiaries of welfare schemes on the ground.
“Today, central funds land in the accounts of beneficiaries with a single click of a button without even a single paise being stolen midway,” Chouhan said referring to the Narendra Modi government’s DBT.
He said earlier there were complaints that some ineligible farmers were benefiting from the scheme so we introduced the three-pronged strategy of land seeding, Aadhar seeding and e-KYC.
The Minister also highlighted that on the sixth anniversary of the PM-KISAN scheme PM Modi released the 19th instalment of the scheme on February 24 from Bhagalpur, Bihar, wherein Rs 22,000 crore were transferred to the bank accounts of 9.8 crore farmers, including 2.41 crore women farmers.
Under the PM-KISAN scheme, a direct payment of Rs 6,000 per year is transferred in three equal instalments of Rs 2,000 each, every four months into the bank account of a registered beneficiary farmer.
Hailing Tamil farmers and the state’s language and culture, Chouhan said the Central government is committed to extending the benefits of the scheme to all beneficiaries in the southern state.
“Even if some farmers could not be enrolled due to delays in e-KYC we would give the benefit from back date. This is Modi ki Guarantee, guarantee for fulfilment of guarantee,” said the Minister.
Denying any delay on the part of the Central government side in delivering the benefits of the PM-KISAN scheme, Chouhan said the Centre is working with state governments where beneficiaries have not yet received the benefits.
“We have urged state governments to update applications on the portal,” he said, pointing out that in the case of Tamil Nadu.
“We can even launch a special campaign to enrol Tamil Nadu farmers,” said Chouhan, hinting at the lack of interest shown earlier by state ministers.
He recalled his bad experience during his two visits to the state during which neither the agriculture nor rural development minister attended his meetings.
Chouhan also highlighted that nearly Rs 7,600 crore have so far been given to Tamil Nadu under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which is almost the highest among all states.
(IANS)
