Govt disburses nearly Rs 3,000 crore to over 42 lakh ineligible farmers under PM-Kisan3Photo© news18.com

Govt disburses nearly Rs 3,000 crore to over 42 lakh ineligible farmers under PM-Kisan

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The Centre has paid nearly Rs 3,000 crore to more than 42 lakh ineligible farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, or PM-Kisan, scheme till July 15, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. This amount now has to be recovered, he said.

The PM-Kisan scheme, launched by the Narendra Modi government ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, initially provided income support worth Rs 6,000 annually to small and marginal farming families. Later, the criteria based on size of land holdings was removed but certain exceptions remained.

Farming families with members who paid income tax, received a monthly pension above Rs 10,000, held a constitutional position, or was a serving or retired government employee, were excluded from the ambit of the scheme. Professional and institutional landholders were also kept out of the scheme. The undeserving beneficiaries fall in one of these categories.