New Delhi: The ambitious PM-KISAN scheme that aims to provide Rs 6,000 annually to small and marginal farmers will reach only 38 per cent of the intended beneficiaries by the end of ongoing Lok Sabha polls, thanks to tardy furnishing of information by the states, lack of digitised land records and the election Model Code of Conduct being in force, according to government officials involved in its implementation.
The scheme, announced in the interim budget on February 1 with retrospective effect from December 2018, was seen as Narendra Modi government's major poll plank to address rural distress.
Under the scheme, direct income support of Rs 6,000 per year in three equal instalments is to be provided to about 12.5 crore small and marginal farmers with land holdings below two hectares or five acres.
The officials cited delays in sharing of the required information and its verification by the states and unavailability of digitised land records as major reasons for the scheme not reaching all the intended beneficiaries.
So far, close to 3.5 crores (28 per cent) of the country's farmers have been given Rs 2,000 as the first instalment through the direct benefit transfer under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM KISAN), with Uttar Pradesh alone crossing the one crore mark.
Barring Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Sikkim and West Bengal, all the other 22 states and 5 union territories have either sent the names of the beneficiaries to the central government or are in process of doing so.
Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand are among the states where the number of beneficiaries has touched the six-digit mark and yet, the majority of eligible farmers are still far from reaping the benefits of the scheme.