Share taxpayers data to recognise worthy beneficiaries of PM Kisan scheme: Government

In a bid to ensure transparency the Union Government has decided that the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare will share the data of taxpayers with the Income Tax department regarding the PM Kisan scheme.

A notification was released by the Central Board of Direct taxes which said that the move was aimed at establishing a mechanism to recognise the deserving beneficiaries of the scheme. The notification said that according to a sub clause in Section 138 of the Income Tax Act,1961 the government has directed the ministry of agriculture to share data with the income tax department for verification under the PM-Kisan scheme.

Although the government has expanded the benefits of the scheme to all farmers irrespective of the size of the landholdings there are some categories of farmers that have been excluded by the government. These groups of farmers are generally those who file for Income tax return as agriculture is their secondary activity. The farmers don’t have to file returns as the farm income is exempted from Income Tax.

The PM Kisan Yojana is a scheme by the Union Government in which farmers will be paid a subsidy of Rs. 6000 annually in three instalments of Rs. 2000 each. The scheme is estimated to cover at least 86% of the total farmers of the country.