PM Kisan Big Scam: Former TRAI and UIDAI Chief Receives PM Kisan money in His Account

PM-Kisan latest news: Former Chief of UIDAI and TRAI, Ram Sewak Sharma has received Rs 6000 in his bank account under Central Government’s Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana when he did not register for the scheme. He received the money in his State bank of India account in three installments.

Sharma noted that his enrollment in the scheme was due to an error by the state government that is responsible for recognizing and adding beneficiaries.

The ex UIDAI chief told The Quint that "Yes, it is a fact that I have received 3 installments of Rs 2000 relating to PM-KISAN scheme in my account”. The report mentioned that Sharma’s PM Kisan yojana account was made on 8^th January 2020 and was active for more than 9 months till at least 24 September before it was deactivated.

Sharma further told that he was registered as a farmer in UP’s Firozabad district and that the SBI branch account in which the payment from the scheme was made is a Hindu Undivided Family account, which was used to receive the sale proceeds of agricultural produce & expenditure.

He reportedly informed the bank about the deposit and is yet to get a response. But the account made under Sharma’s name has been deactivated. Sharma told that he was ineligible for PM Kisan yojana as he is a tax-paying citizen.

It must be noted that PM Kisan Yojana accounts were also created under the names of Lord Hanuman, ISI spy Mehboob Akhtar, actor Riteish Deshmukh, whose Aadhaar numbers were publicly available. These accounts also received Direct Benefit Transfer installments of Rs 6000, Rs 4000 & Rs 2000 respectively.

In 2018, the former UIDAI chief had shared his Aadhaar number publicly, challenging people to show how knowledge of the number can be misused to harm him. Sharma held the state government responsible for not checking his eligibility properly.

On 20 September, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar in the Lok Sabha said that the responsibility of identification of the beneficiaries lies completely with the States or Union Territories Governments, according to the provision of the scheme. He also said that the data of beneficiaries so uploaded by them goes through a multi-level verification & validation by various concerned agencies, including banks and after all this the amount is released into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.

To recall, under PM Kisan scheme, Central government provides Rs 6000 per year in three equal installments to small and marginal farmers.