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Digital Desk: In Assam, the state government reported nearly 12 lakh ineligible farmers have benefited from the ambitious Prime Minister's Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme, indicating a massive scam in the flagship program for farmers.
Upon hearing public interest litigation filed by NGO Amguri Naba Nirman Samity, Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Soumitra Saikia urged the Assam government to file a detailed status report on the case.
The HC order given on Tuesday stated that "the state filed an affidavit wherein it admitted that nearly eleven lakh people were wrongly benefitted from the aforesaid scheme".
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As stated in the affidavit, a government probing conducted by chief secretary Jishnu Barua in 2020 revealed that 11,72 lakh ineligible people received benefits under PM-KISAN.
The bench said the Assam advocate general has made a statement that the issue raised in the PIL is genuine. "The efforts of the state government are already underway for inquiry and recovery of money from the persons who have been wrongly given the benefit of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme," it added.
Additionally, the Assam government informed the HC that proceedings were initiated against officers involved in this scam, and FIRs were filed against some of them. A detailed report and a status report should be filed by the state in an affidavit within six weeks, the HC ruled. The next hearing is set for April 5.
PM-KISAN Scheme, launched in 2019, provides eligible farmer families with a financial benefit of Rs 6,000 per year, distributed in three equal installments. The fund is directly transferred into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries. On August 4 last year, Assam Agriculture Minister Atul Bora had told the Assembly that a total of 23,33,864 farmers across the state received benefits under the PM-KISAN scheme.
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had informed Parliament on July 20 last year that the Centre has to recover Rs 2,992.75 crore as of July 15, 2021, from 42.16 lakh ineligible beneficiary farmers registered for the PM-KISAN scheme with the highest amount to be recovered from Assam.
Out of this total amount, the Rs 554.01 crore has to be recovered from 8.35 lakh ineligible farmers in Assam, said Tomar.
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