Farmers Movement Archive

Botched Kisan Samman Nidhi beneficiary list irks UP chief secretary

LUCKNOW: The UP government has sounded an alarm over callousness in physical verification of farmers under Centre’s flagship PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme, entailing an annual financial aid of Rs 6,000 to each of 2.81 crore small and marginal farmers in UP. In a strongly-worded missive sent to district magistrates on Wednesday, chief secretary R K Tewari said, “faulty” physical verification of beneficiaries has resulted in many farmers being shown “dead or unqualified” to receive benefits of the scheme, which was flagged off by PM Narendra Modi in February 2019 from Gorakhpur, political backyard of CM Yogi Adityanath. “These farmers are now registering complaints with the state government,” Tewari said in the letter, which, significantly, has also been marked to the Union agriculture and farmer welfare ministry. Tewari said, physical verification of as many 5% beneficiaries was done in a faulty manner in 2019-20. This got doubled in 2020-21, when physical verification of 10% beneficiaries turned out to be faulty. The letter, however, did not disclose total number of farmers deprived of scheme benefits. The chief secretary, not surprisingly, has asked DMs to fix responsibility on officials responsible for callousness, besides initiating action against them. The development assumes significance in the backdrop of ruling BJP facing Opposition’s fury over ongoing farmers’ protest against new farm laws. ‘ The Lakhimpur incident allegedly involving junior home minister Ajay Mishra’s son has turned to be a tipping point of the raging controversy. Tewari further noted the state government has also been receiving complaints from various districts on farmers’ grievances not being taken on a “qualitative” basis — neither online nor offline — which was a “cause of grave concern”. He said, farmers are approaching the state government on Integrated Grievances Redress System (IGRS), a portal aimed at ensuring transparency and accountability of government departments or through other means at the highest possible government level. As per the mechanism set by the state government, a district-level committee under chairmanship of respective DMs has to take up complaints pertaining to farmers, who seek financial assistance under the scheme. Reiterating state government’s instructions, Tewari directed complaint redressal committees in different districts should work “actively” and dispose of complaints online on a “timely basis”. He directed the DM to review disposal of farmers’ complaints on a fortnight basis, besides conducting random checks to ensure the exercise is being done in a “satisfactory and qualitative” manner. Also, he said, the grievance redressal committee should also be activated for offline complaints and a control room set up for the purpose.

The Times of India

2021-10-14

Lucknow