9.5 Lakh Farmers in West Bengal Excluded From PM-Kisan Scheme

West Bengal Government has written a letter to the Centre, expressing its dissatisfaction with the exclusion of 9.5 lakh farmers from PM-Kisan Yojana, one of the most beneficial schemes of PM Modi Government. 

“We have written to the Centre to convey our worry about the issue. Bengal farmers are being deprived due to the Centre's fault. We don't want Bengal farmers to suffer just as a result of the Centre's technical errors”, State agriculture minister Sobhandeb Chatterjee said. 

Farmers receive Rs 6,000 per year in three equal installments under the PM Kisan scheme. The funds are deposited immediately to the beneficiaries' bank accounts. Due to a dispute between the Centre and the state over the matter, no one in Bengal has received this yet. The seventh quarterly installment of the programme was issued by the PM in May. 

According to a Nabanna official, the names of 44.8 lakh farmers were submitted, with 9.5 lakh names missing. These individuals' data had to be rectified in order for them to be eligible for the PMKisan program. 

As per sources, roughly 68 lakh farmers in Bengal are projected to gain from PM-Kisan if names are accurately documented. So far, 24.3 lakh farmer names from Bengal have been accepted. “However, farmers would not be able to benefit from PM-Kisan till the data of the 9.5 lakh farmers is corrected,” he stated. 

Around 62 lakh farmers in Bengal are benefiting from the Krishak Bandhu scheme, which was recently increased from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000. 

All farmers in West Bengal are covered under the Krishak Bandhu plan, according to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however all farmers are not covered under PM-Kisan. Soon after taking office in early May, the CM wrote to the Prime Minister about the PM-Kisan initiative, which allows qualifying farmers to receive funding from the agriculture ministry.