(PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday facilitated disbursal of Rs 12,000 crore to 6 crore farmers in one go under the government’s flagship PM-Kisan scheme, taking the total amount transferred to about Rs 42,000 crore so far this fiscal. The Centre may be able to save about 40% of the budgeted Rs 75,000 crore as the total pay out under the scheme is seen at about Rs 45,000 crore in 2019-20. Without taking any name, Modi slammed West Bengal for not implementing the scheme in the state. He said that such petty politics has done great damage to the farming community.
“I expect that in the new year, those states which are not associated with the Kisan Samman Yojana will at least become a part of it,” the prime minister said at a function in Tumakuru, Karnataka.
West Bengal, with an estimated over 70 lakh farmers, is the only state which is out of the ambit of PM-Kisan as it has refused to share and authenticate farmers’ data. Claiming his government has ensured that the entire money reached the poor beneficiaries, Modi hit out at previous governments for their failure to check the misuse and diversion of Central funds. “There was a time when a rupee was rolled out (by the Centre) for the poor person, and only 15 paise would reach him. The middlemen would pocket the remaining 85 paise… Today, whatever money is dispatched from Delhi, the entire amount directly reaches the bank account of the beneficiary,” he said.
