Total number of PM-KISAN beneficiaries not expected to be over 100-110 mn

As more and more states send in their list of beneficiaries under the flagship PM-KISAN scheme, officials say that as of now it seems the final number of beneficiary farmers may not exceed 110 million.

This is significantly lower than the earlier calculation at 146 million, of which 125 million comprised small and marginal ones that held less than 2 hectares of land. 

The earlier estimates were based on the 2015-16 agriculture census.

The low number of beneficiaries could also mean that the Centre’s entire allocation of Rs 75,000 crore for the scheme in 2019-20 may not be required and there could be substantial savings on that front.

Under PM-KISAN, the government gives income support of Rs 6,000 per year in three equal installments to all identified farmers to supplement their input cost requirement.

The scheme was announced in the interim Budget of 2019-20 by the Narendra Modi government just ahead of the 2019 general elections with an initial allocation of Rs 75,000 crore.

States have to identify the beneficiaries based on their land records and other documents, including bank accounts and upload the list in a central portal. Once the list is uploaded and verified by banks and others, the money gets transferred.

Earlier, the income support was meant for only small and marginal farmers (those who hold less than 2 hectares of land), but through a cabinet decision in May 2019, it was expanded to cover all farmers irrespective of the size of their landholdings.

This raised the total number of beneficiary farmers to 146 million from the earlier estimated 125 million as mentioned in the agriculture census of 2015-16 and also increased the total expenditure for the scheme to over Rs 87,000 crore.

However, officials said since then, as the states started sending their list of beneficiaries, the actual number of farmers seems lower than the agriculture census 2015-16.

This is also attributed to insufficient land records, land not mutated in the name of the original holder, presence of joint holdings in land and also farmers not willing to reveal their land details.

In some states like Jharkhand, where most tribal land is governed by Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act and Chhota Nagpur Tenancy Act, it is the responsibility of the revenue officer to verify the land records and actual beneficiary under the scheme.

Such is the case for North-East states as well.

“For example in the case of Karnataka, the total number of beneficiaries according to the Agriculture Census 2015-16 should have been 8.7 million. But the state has sent a list of only 6.3 million farmers. In Kerala, against an estimated 7.5 million beneficiaries as per the census, the state has furnished details of around 3.5 million beneficiaries,” a senior official said.

That apart, West Bengal isn’t participating in the scheme, which clearly removes around few million beneficiaries in one go, the official said.

Of the expected 100 million beneficiaries expected to become part of PM-KISAN, officials said so far names of 80 million have already been uploaded in the official portal and payment of nearly 60 million of them have been made.

The remaining 20 million names are pending for correction in all the installments of which almost 0.7 million transactions have failed, 60 per cent of which is due to NEFT failure and pending KYC at the bank level. 

Officials said all payments for pending transactions will be made as soon as issues get sorted out at the local level and in case any of the installments gets skipped, it is paid as arrears to the farmer. 

Officials said the number of 100-110 million final beneficiaries under PM-KISAN also looks plausible because according to the soil health card records, India has around 104 million farmers who have proper land records and titles.

In the output and outcome budget of 2019-20, the Centre has said that it plans to target 100 million farmers under PM-KISAN.

“If we manage to save a good amount of funds from PM-KISAN, going forward, we may reduce the number of installments from three to two. This will also save a significant amount of transaction cost for us,” the official explained.