BHUBANESWAR: With the `1 transfer to the accounts of beneficiaries of its hugely-successful Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme raising some concern, the Odisha Government on Thursday said it was done to confirm the accounts of eligible farmers.

Before transfer of the first phase assistance, `1 was transferred to 7.04 lakh beneficiaries as a test-check for confirmation of accounts and verification of robustness of the electronic direct benefit transfer (DBT) system to handle such large number of transfer of funds, Government sources said.

When the Government worked out modalities for the DBT, the first draft beneficiary list comprising 22.8 lakh small and marginal farmers was displayed in January for ground level verification.

In total, at least 13.03 lakh small and marginal farmers, including 57,614 sharecroppers were found to be eligible basing on the available database. The first tranche of `5,000 was transferred to the bank accounts through DBT as Rabi assistance for agricultural activities on January 25. 

The list of rest nine lakh small and marginal farmers has now been published as a part of the second beneficiary list under the incomplete information category in all gram panchayats. All those found eligible will soon be transferred `5000 benefit shortly.

Due to this verification exercise, a number of issues could be resolved. When 13.03 lakh beneficiaries were transferred `5,000 on January 25, the failure rate was less than 2 per cent which is unprecedented for a DBT scheme, Principal Secretary, Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department Sourabh Garg said. The State Government is working overtime with banks to improve reliability of funds transfer, he added.

Now, as the Government gears up for the second phase of benefit transfer, it has asked banks to ensure that funds provided under the scheme are not adjusted towards previous outstanding against any beneficiary.
At the State-Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) meeting, held under the chairmanship of Development Commissioner Asit Kumar Tripathy, the bankers accepted the request of the Government to render full cooperation in successful implementation of KALIA and not to make any such unilateral adjustments.

Similar meetings were also convened by all Collectors who held district-level bankers committee meetings in which bankers assured cooperation in disbursement of funds to beneficiaries without any adjustment.
To iron out any error in beneficiaries’ list and inclusion of prominent persons, the Government has already initiated steps to provide a method for refund of the money transferred to the ineligible beneficiaries.

What has come as a pleasant surprise is the voluntary declaration by farmers in submitting Red forms for exclusion of their names from the first draft list. The Government is hopeful that similar support would continue so that correct beneficiaries get the assistance under KALIA.