Over 2.69 lakh beneficiaries could not get the first trancheunder the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme and stategovernments have been asked to correct discrepancies found in their bankdetails, the Centre informed Rajya Sabha Friday.Stating that many states haverolled out the scheme, Minister of State for Agriculture Parshottam Rupaladuring the Question Hour urged the West Bengal and Delhi governments toimplement the scheme at the earliest and ensure benefits reach farmers.

The issue of non-availability of authenticated land recordsin Manipur, Nagaland and Jharkhand has been sorted out. In Jharkhand where landrecords have not been updated since 1932, the state government has been askedto update it soon, he added.

The PM-KISAN scheme, launched in February just before theLok Sabha polls, aims to provide Rs 6,000 annually in three equal instalmentsdirectly into the bank account of 14.5 crore farmers holding up to 2 hectareland.So far, the first instalment of Rs 2,000 has been released to bankaccounts of 4.14 crore farmers in the country, while the second tranche to 3.17crore farmers, each amounting to Rs 8290.6 crore and Rs 6355.8 crore,respectively, the Minister said in his written reply to the Upper House.

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

Under the PM-KISAN, financial benefits are transferred tobank accounts of identified beneficiaries as and when their correct andverified data is uploaded by states concerned on the PM-Kisan web-portal.

Rupala further said, "Government has received 23,337corrected data from states and the same have been sent to (Public FinanceManagement System (PFMS) for further validation. The payment of thosebeneficiaries would be effected after successful validation."PM-KISANenvisages to cover approximately 14.50 crore beneficiaries across the countrysubject to exclusion criteria. The responsibility of identifying and uploadingdetails of beneficiaries solely lies with the State/UT.Replying to a a query ifthe government has plans to raise the support amount given to farmers under thescheme, Rupala said, "It is right that the amount being given now is less.

This government has implemented this scheme for the firsttime after the country's Independence. ... Your suggestion is good and we willlook into it."To another query whether benefits of the scheme will beextended to farm labourers and tenant farmers, the Minister made is clear thatthis scheme is meant for those who own farm land.

Highlighting challenges being faced while implementingPM-KISAN, the Minister said the delay in identification of beneficiaries bysome States/UTs has resulted in delay in transfer of benefits to eligiblefarmer families.

Also, benefits could not be availed by eligible farmer familiesdue to mismatch in names of beneficiaries as provided by state governments andthe names as given in details of the corresponding bank account numbers.Thedelay in correction of data which are sent back to states after various levelsof validation affects the prompt transfer of benefit to eligible farmerfamilies, the Minister said in his written reply.