TAD NewsDesk, NEW DELHI: The Centre has declined West Bengal’s appeal for funding farmers directly under the PM-Kisan scheme instead of directing it through the State Government.
West Bengal became the only state that has not executed this scheme to provide Rs 6,000 to farmers yearly in three regular installments.
The Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, stated to Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar that they should execute the PM-Kisan scheme in West Bengal if funds are transmitted to the State Government.
An executive at the Agriculture Ministry said that the Centre has vehemently stated that the scheme is constructed on the concept of smooth benefit transfer to farmer’s accounts, and “routing money through State Government would be against the spirit of the scheme.”
The executive stated,
“We are ready to pay farmers of West Bengal if the state government identify and send us the verified list of beneficiaries. This is a 100% Central sponsored scheme and we can’t give money to the state government to distribute on its own.”
He further stated,
“Over 2 million farmers have self-registered through Common Service Centres (CSCs) for the scheme. But we can’t transfer them the money unless the State Government verifies their eligibility. If West Bengal government is really serious, they should immediately verify beneficiaries already registered on PM KISAN portal.”
The executive said,
“We have more than 110 million beneficiaries in our list with Uttar Pradesh on top with around 26 million eligible beneficiaries followed by Maharashtra with 11 million farmers.”
There are approximately 7 million farmers in West Bengal. The government had hitherto shelled out Rs 93,000 crore to farmers since the scheme’s initiation in February 2019.
