The Central government, on Friday, informed the Rajya Sabha that over 2.69 lakh beneficiaries could not get the first tranche of benefits under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme.

Under the PM-KISAN scheme, which was launched in February, farmers holding up to 2 hectare land were promised Rs 6,000 annually in three equal installments directly into their bank accounts.

The first installment of Rs 2,000 has been released to bank accounts of 4.14 crore farmers in the country, while the second tranche to 3.17 crore farmers, each amounting to Rs 8290.6 crore and Rs 6355.8 crore, respectively, said Minister of State for Agriculture, Parshottam Rupala, in his written reply to the Upper House.

Replying to supplementaries on discrepancies in implementing the PM-KISAN, Rupala said states have been asked to make corrections and resubmit bank details of 2,69,605 farmer families for further acceptance/validation before the transfer of benefit.

The responsibility of identifying and uploading details of beneficiaries solely lies with the State/UT and the financial benefits are transferred to bank accounts when their correct and verified data is uploaded by states concerned on the PM-Kisan web-portal.

Rupala further said, "Government has received 23,337 corrected data from states and the same have been sent to (Public Finance Management System (PFMS) for further validation. The payment of those beneficiaries would be effected after successful validation."

During the Question Hour, Rupala said that many states have rolled out the scheme and urged the West Bengal and Delhi governments to implement the scheme at the earliest to ensure that benefits reach farmers.

It was informed that the issue of non-availability of authenticated land records in Manipur, Nagaland and Jharkhand has been sorted out. In Jharkhand, where land records have not been updated since 1932, the state government has been asked to update it soon, he added.

Highlighting challenges being faced while implementing PM-KISAN, the Minister said the that delay in identification of beneficiaries by some States/UTs and the mismatch in names of beneficiaries as per state government records and bank records has resulted in delay in transfer of benefits.

To another query whether benefits of the scheme will be extended to farm labourers and tenant farmers, the Minister made is clear that this scheme is meant for those who own farm land.

Inputs from PTI