HYDERABAD: While Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually transferred about Rs 19,500 crore to over 9.75 crore farmers across the country on Monday as part of the ninth instalment of Rs 2,000 each under the Centre's Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) scheme, farmers in Telangana state are yet to receive the eighth instalment that was released in May.
Under the scheme, an annual direct cash transfer of Rs 6,000 is provided to farmers, which is directly deposited into their registered bank accounts. The amount is paid in three equal four-monthly instalments of Rs 2,000 each.
Modi launched the scheme on December 1, 2018. Since then, nine instalments were released until Monday.
In every financial year, the first instalment is released during April-July period. Telangana farmers are yet to receive the first instalment for current fiscal 2021-22. Beneficiaries have the facility to check their status online on the PM-Kisan portal by providing either their Aadhaar number or registered mobile number.
When farmers are checking their status, the portal is displaying "FTO is generated and payment confirmation is pending" or "awaiting approval from the state government."
Last year (2020-21), the state government uploaded the details of about 39.33 lakh eligible farmers in Telangana state but the Centre credited the amount in the accounts of only 36.42 lakh. This year (2021-22), the beneficiaries’ number came down further to 32 lakhs and they too are yet to receive the amount.
The state agriculture department has to update the data of eligible farmers and submit it to the Centre before transferring funds to their accounts every time.
However, there has been a delay on the part of the state government in submitting the data. Official sources in the agriculture department cite Covid for the delay.
According to PM-Kisan guidelines, state nodal officers (SNOs) authenticate the data of eligible farmers, and upload them in batches from time to time on the portal. Based on the verified data, the SNOs sign the RFTs (Request for Transfers) that contain the total number of beneficiaries. The Public Finance Management System (PFMS) then issues a fund transfer order (FTO), based on which the department of agriculture issues the transaction order for the mentioned amount, and the instalment is credited into the account of the beneficiary.
"Due to the Covid-19 second wave and subsequent restrictions and lockdowns till June-end, field teams took longer to complete the verification process," said sources.
While 63.25 lakh farmers in Telangana are getting the state government's Rythu Bandhu benefit, the Centre had shortlisted just 39 lakh farmers in Telangana for PM-Kisan, which too is coming down year after year and now the beneficiaries’ number stands at 32 lakh.
