CUDDALORE: The lush fields and scenic hills around Varappalayam camouflage the distress of farmers living in the village very well. For the impoverished workers of the perennially ailing sector, the Covid pandemic and associated lockdowns were a brutal body blow. K Ranganathan, one such farmer from Varappalayam near Coimbatore, pinned his hopes on the Central government’s financial assistance programme, to tide through the tough times. The officials executing the programme, however, seemed to have different ideas.

“I had heard of the PM-Kisan scheme, and wanted to avail the benefits doled out for the sake of farmers by the Central government,” says Ranganathan. “However, when I visited a nationalised bank’s branch, they kept persuading me to take a crop loan if I wanted to get a Kisan card. The interest rate at the bank is a whopping 8 per cent. Why would I do that? I would get the same loan at a much cheaper rate of interest from a cooperative society.” Then, why not get a Kisan card from a cooperative society? “I tried, but the society wanted me to buy fertilizers from them in return for the Kisan card.

The trouble with that deal is that the society does not give us the fertilizer we want. They try to push the product they prefer.” Ranganathan has been trying to get a Kisan card since June, but his attempts have gone in vain. “If I had the card, I would get the Rs 6,000 financial incentive being offered by the government to farmers to help us tide through the Covid-related distress.” Not just that. The Kisan card would also help Ranganathan take small bank loans without giving any collateral, at an interest rate of mere 2 per cent.

Considering the benefits, Ranganathan has not given up trying. S Nachimutu, a farmer from Madukkarai, has had similar experience while applying for a Kisan card. The only difference is that Nachimutu has been trying for the last six months. For both these farmers, Kisan card is the panacea for which they have been looking. It is right there in front of them, but out of reach. 

Now, cut to Virudhachalam, in the northern part of Tamil Nadu. Daily wage labourer Bhavani* has been unemployed since the lockdown began. In April, when her family was struggling without her meagre income that, until then, kept them afloat, a neighbour told Bhavani about a new financial assistance programme of the government. All that Bhavani had to do was fill out a few forms, submit her Aadhaar details and ID proof, and she would get money from the government. 

Thrilled, Bhavani did as she was told. When asked, the neighbour told Bhavani that she had found out about the scheme through a relative who works with the Agriculture Department in Cuddalore. “A fortnight after I completed the formalities, I received Rs 2,000 in my bank account, of which my neighbour demanded Rs 1,000 as commission.” Only then did Bhavani realise that she was an illegal beneficiary of the PM-Kisan scheme.

There is no farmer or farm worker in Bhavani’s family, yet she got the money meant as assistance for farmers. It appears Bhavani’s neighbour, or the relative who works in the Agriculture Department, used Bhavani’s credentials to open a fake beneficiary account. They gave half the money to Bhavani to make her a party in the crime. “I have never met this relative of my neighbour ever, not even during all these transactions.” In August too, Bhavani got Rs 2,000, of which the neighbour took Rs 1,000. Bhavani is at the tail end of a massive scam that has recently come to light in Tamil Nadu. 

The scam
It is suspected that there is a big network behind this scam, comprising corrupt bank and government officials apart from people with powerful links. The network corrupted a novel scheme, conceived to alleviate the distress of farmers, to swindle money meant for the poor. As a result, farmers like Ranganathan are running pillar to post to secure the benefits for which they are eligible, while those like Bhavani have been made unwilling parties to a financial fraud. 

So, how deep is this corruption? In Cuddalore alone, officials have unearthed a whopping 38,000 fake Kisan accounts so far. The process is continuing as more suspicious accounts are being audited. Till April, there were only 1.79 lakh beneficiaries of the scheme in Cuddalore, explain sources. After that there was a spurt -- 80,752 fresh beneficiaries got added; most of them were between July 15 and 31. A joint committee formed by the government -- comprising agriculture, horticulture, and revenue department officials -- expanded the probe beyond Cuddalore to 12 other districts. The also suspended the scheme to avoid further damage.

It has come to light that the scam is centred around Villupuram, Kallakurichi, and Cuddalore. In the Karmangudi revenue village of Cuddalore, for instance, only 172 out of the 474 new beneficiaries are genuine farmers, point out members of farmers associations, who are now up in arms against the fraudsters. “The rest are all fake accounts,” says Karmangudi Venkatesan, a farmer and the head of a farmers’ association.

The fake accounts, according to sources, were in the names of school-going children, housewives, and others who had never done farming. Venkatesan says even he was lured to take “advantage” of the scheme. “An agricultural department staff told me that I could register separate accounts for my mother and wife with different survey numbers. All that he wanted were a few documents. But, I turned it down.” 

The probe
The scam happened at a time when the entire country, government and the people, were busy battling Covid. Within a time period of 30-40 days, officials monitoring the PM-Kisan scheme in the State got alerts. There was a significant jump in the number of beneficiaries in certain districts. Preliminary probe revealed that a few contractual staff working at Common Service Centres were involved in the scam. They hoodwinked vulnerable citizens, used their documents and identification proofs, and opened fake accounts.

Last Saturday, one such common service centre in Kallakurichi, opposite the Shankarapuram Revenue Divisional Office, was sealed as part of the probe. The centre was allegedly forging documents of ineligible persons for the scheme after taking bribe from them. The issue was brought to light by farmers, with help from the Left parties. The District Collector then ordered a freeze on all beneficiary accounts linked to the centre until further instructions. In some other cases, it has also come to light that these contractual staff charged Rs 500 from applicants as “computer fees” and misused their Aadhaar details to open fake accounts.

More than half the beneficiaries in Kallakurichi are fake, say officials. “A total of 1,40,000 Kisan cards were sanctioned to beneficiaries of which, 75,000 were found to be ineligible,” says joint director of agriculture Velayudham. “Investigation has revealed that two government officers leaked the user ID and password of the database to contractual employees of computer centres, including the one that was sealed. Using the login details, fake applications were uploaded on to the database.” So far, three Assistant Directors based in Villupuram and Kallakurichi have been suspended by the agricultural department, suspecting they had links with the scam.

Officials in Chennai say the investigation is almost over, and that the “kingpins” behind the scam would be nabbed in the next few days. “Every penny swindled illegally will be retrieved. After all, we have all their bank account numbers. There will be no loss of money for the government,” a senior official said. A few staff members working at computer centres there have been fired.  

PM-kisan
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the PM-KISAN scheme on 24 February 2019 in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. Under this scheme, all small and marginal farmers will be provided with income support of Rs 6,000 per year in three instalments which will be deposited directly to their bank accounts. The total annual expenditure for this scheme is expected to be Rs 75,000 crore which will be financed by Union Government

Wages
According to the 2013 National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) survey, among the agricultural households having less than 0.01 hectare land, 56 per cent reported wage/salary employment as their principal source of income

Doubling income by 2022
The government has set a target of doubling the farmers’ income by the year 2022. The government has constituted an Inter-Ministerial Committee under the Chairmanship of Chief Executive Officer, National Rainfed Area Authority, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare to examine issues relating to doubling of farmers’ income and recommend a strategy to achieve the target in real terms by the year 2022 

Kisan Credit Card
The Centre has decided to provide benefit of Kisan Credit Card to all PM-KISAN beneficiaries. Some features of the Kisan Credit Card Loan scheme are:

• The interest rate offered on the loan may go as low as 2 per cent
• Banks will not seek security on loans up to Rs 1.60 lakh
• Crop insurance coverage against a variety of calamities is given to the users
• Farmer is provided insurance coverage against permanent disability, death, other risks
• The repayment period is decided on the basis of harvesting of crop and its marketing period
• Maximum loan up to Rs 3 lakh can be taken by the card holder
• Farmers who deposit their money in the Kisan Credit Card account will get a high rate of interest
• Farmers are charged simple interest rate when they make prompt payment
• Compound interest is charged when cardholders fail to make timely payments

1.79 lakh 
beneficiaries are covered under PM-KISAN in Cuddalore district alone

80,752 
new enrolments were taken in Cuddalore since April this year. Of them, nearly 38,000 accounts are fake. Also, a high number of enrolments were made between July 15 to 31

Rs 50,850 crore 
has been disbursed to farmers though the PM KISAN scheme, the Central government said in February this year

‘Concerned about affording seeds’
We are concerned about being able to afford inputs, particularly seeds and fertilizers, said half of the households that took part in a recent survey. More than one-third (38%) were concerned about labour shortages and about one-fourth said they were “storing their crops instead of selling them due to the lockdown”. The survey was conducted by the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health and the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA, Hyderabad) at 200 districts in India between May 3 and May 15 this year. The study has found small/marginal farmers were significantly less likely to be able to sell their crops as compared to large farmers.

90.2 million  agricultural households lived in rural India as per the last survey conducted 
by NSSO in India in 2013

44 per cent of the estimated agricultural households in the country had MGNREGA job card during the survey period

52 per cent of the agricultural households in the country were estimated to be indebted

The Agrarian Agony
Average monthly income (Rs ) per agricultural household for States/group of Union Territories during July 2012 - June 2013 as per the Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households and the 70th National Sample Survey

(* names changed as per request)  (With inputs from Krithika Srinivasan @ Villupuram / Kallakurichi, M Saravanan @ Coimbatore, and Muruganantham T @ Chennai)