Akhilesh Tripathi
LUCKNOW—Dead has `come alive’ for claiming the benefit of Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi in Uttar Pradesh.
Well, this is not a joke, but a reality in UP. Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi was started by the Modi government to woo farmers in a bid to win the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
BJP thought that if farmers are provided with some amount they will vote for the party. BJP thought-process was they will outsmart the opposition and win maximum Lok Sabha seats. Therefore, the Modi government rolled out the scheme in February 2019 just months ahead of the general elections.
Under this scheme, the central government was to provide Rs 6,000 to the eligible farmers in three equal instalments in the fourth, eighth, and twelfth months. In this way, the central government decided to give Rs 6000 to the farmers in a year.
Modi government immediately started disbursing Rs 2000 to the farmers. In UP alone, more than Rs 45,000 crore were paid to over 2.55 crore farmers. BJP won 64 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats. Modi also won the second term and this scheme played an important role.
BJP continued this scheme even after coming to power. From 2019 onwards, many farmers died, but the money used to be transferred into their accounts. Since BJP achieved the goal of securing a second term, no one was bothered to look into the list of beneficiaries.
From 2019 till now, 77,889 farmers died. But the `dead farmers’ continued to receive money under Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi. This money of the dead farmers was withdrawn by deceased farmers’ dependents or someone else.
This scandal came to the fore when the dependents of the deceased farmers, who received the Kisan Samman Nidhi, wanted the succession certificate. During the investigation, it was revealed that their parents had died long ago but their dependents were taking money
Due to this disclosure, there was a stir in the administration. Officers tried to suppress the fact because it could hit the Yogi government. This could have led to the loss of the BJP in the assembly elections. So, a cover-up was planned. Interestingly, neither the dependents/ heirs of the deceased farmers gave any information nor were any details shared by the banks.
Later, Directorate of Agriculture in UP sent letters to the officials to get the matter verified. “It will be ascertained how many such fraudulent cases exist. If the money has been withdrawn by their heirs, this amount will be recovered from their account. The cases of inheritance are being reconciled. After this the number of such cases may also increase,” said Dr. Devesh Chaturvedi, Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture, Uttar Pradesh.