SHILLONG: For proper identification of beneficiaries under the PM-KISAN scheme, the Hynniewtrep National Youth Front (HNYF) requested the director of Agriculture to resurvey the actual farming households in the State to ensure that genuine farmers are not deprived.
The HNYF pointed out that the office of the Director of Agriculture has failed to understand the land holding system among the tribal communities of the state wherein most of the cases land are either not recorded or documented. They also stated that even if the land is recorded or documented, in most of the cases it is done in the name of one person whereas farming in such land is done as a joint family with different households. The HNYF referred to a letter sent by the Director of Agriculture to the District Agricultural Officers that there are instances where more than one member of a family has been enrolled under the scheme which is not as per the guidelines of the scheme and has asked the District Agriculture Officers to avoid the discrepancies. The organisation said that the letters to the subordinates resulted in the deprivation of the scheme to many actual tillers of the soil. “Previously, the government used to collect data from the local traditional heads to verify the farming households, but it seems the e-governance has failed to catch up with the ground realities”, the HNYF stated.