PM-KISAN scheme's probe by Assam govt shows flawed systems in place

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday ordered an inquiry into the allegations of irregularities in the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme. Additional Chief Secretary Jishnu Barua has been entrusted with the responsibility to enquire into the preparation of the faulty beneficiary list and submit his report within one month.

The controversy erupted following media reports about irregularities in the beneficiary list of people included in PM-KISAN. The panchayat level officers have been accused of entertaining non-beneficiaries in the list. Assam Congress chief Ripun Bora too raised the matter, "they have made the list in haste. The govt deliberately added BJP people to make the list".

The main issue

PM-KISAN is a Central Sector Scheme with 100% funding from the Government of India. Under the Scheme, income support of Rs.6000 per year is provided to all farmer families across the country in three equal installments of Rs.2000 each every four months.

The main two aspects of the issue which has created the controversy here are identification and faulty inclusion. The Centre has specified several identification criteria. One of them is the definition of family for the Scheme is husband, wife, and minor children. The responsibility of identification of beneficiary farmer families rests with the State and UT Governments.

The inquiry has been initiated as the beneficiaries included do not fit the eligibility criteria as mentioned in the scheme. The discrepancies have been accepted even by the state government. Speaking to Inside Northeast, Assam's Minister for Agriculture and Veterinary, Atul Bora said, "we found out discrepancies and ineligible people getting money".

Bora has stated that even before the inquiry initiated by the state govt, the govt has pushed for verification and even payments were halted for the process. "In West Karbi and Dhubri are the places where we stopped the payments", said Bora.

Following the controversy, Ripun Bora has alleged that the state govt necessitated the list in haste. Speaking to Inside Northeast, Bora alleged, "The govt has put their people on duty and it has been done deliberately". Atul Bora has responded that "the officers are not selected by the govt and it is them who has carried out the process".

Meanwhile, Ripun Bora has said, "There's no check and balance in the system" to which Atul Bora has responded by saying, "some circles are trying to politicise the issue".

Beyond the binary of politics

The issue has brought to the front of the failure of systems at work. Since the responsibility to make the list lies with the state govt, it is at the panchayat level that starts the process. The Panchayat Sevaks are entrusted to the duty of finding the eligible beneficiaries. Bonijit Hussain, a public intellectual who is also a cultivator spoke to Inside Northeast. "The Krishi Bibav (Agri Dept) has no reach on the ground. The Panchayat level officers (gram Sevaks) have no idea who's a farmer, let along finding a marginal one". As such, they have mostly added people they know without even exploring basic eligibility like the holding of a maximum of 2 hectares or a family member occupying a government post apart from the relaxations. "In my area, there are at least 70 families and among them, 45 to 50 have made it to the list. Out of them, around 5 are eligible farmers. Some retired schoolmaster has also made it".

Therein starts the second level of the problem. The Panchayat level is just one part of the game, the initial application form then goes through the district body which has to clear it and send it to Assam Secretariat. The district-level officers, in this case, avoided verifying the details for reasons known and unknown. "They do not have any data on the farmers. Ther's no differentiation between the different crop farmers. The lack of ground knowledge enabled the corruption of the panchayat level". The failure of the district level has also been addressed by the Agri Minister. "They were busy with NRC implementation and the list was asked to prepare quickly by the Center".

The PM-KISAN was announced just before the Lok Sabha 2019 elections on February 24, 2019. The welfare scheme had to quickly operationalised and that might have also been a factor.

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There have also been reports of the data operators who have taken bribes from people to include their names on the list. The compilation of the names has been done digitally with the requirement of IFSC code. In that, secondary brokers came and enrolled people by taking Rs 1,000 from them, alleges Bonjit Hussain.

Going forward

DCs have also been directed to stop further release of PM-KISAN payments under the scheme till the preparation of the correct beneficiary list with authenticated bank accounts after the deletion of doubtful entries.

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