RTI Helps a Farmer to get his pending PM KISAAN Installment.

Dear Citizens,

In this article, I would like to put up how RTI can be used as a tool by the citizens.

Success Story :-

A farmer named A Narsimha Reddy, from Telanagan worried about his pending 13th installment of Rs. 2,000 of PM KISAN which is supposed to get credited in his account on 27th February,2023. But, a few months ago he closed one of his Bank Accounts and opened a new account, ideally, the amount should get credited to his new account as the same is linked with AEPS - Aadhar Enabled Payment System. 

He went from pillar to post, but none of them were aware of what should be done. The State Agriculture Department is clueless citing they don't have the option to update the bank details, as the same is a central-sponsored scheme. 

He asked me if I could do anything for him and get back the pending instalment of PM KISAN, this is not the story of a single farmer, I have seen many such farmers who are clueless about what should be done and when they approach the bank or agriculture offices, naturally they are not provided with sufficient information.

I dropped an email to almost all the contacts in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and NPCI, and after repeated follow-ups and filing an RTI application, there was one reply that Bank details are not mapped with NPCI and for this one has to visit the bank and update Aadhar. He did the same, again Bank people are clueless, about what has to be done, the only answer from them is that Aadhar is already updated with the Bank account. 

Again, after dropping mail to higher authorities with the Bank, they came to know that Linking Aadhar with the Bank account and Linking Aadhar - Bank - NPCI portal is different. Finally, Aadhar has been updated with the NPCI portal, this entire process went on for 2-3 months.

Now, what next?

Again, Farner has to step in Agriculture office, as usual, they have only the same answer, it is a central scheme, they don't have any access, and it will get automatically credited.

Hopeless Farmer, nothing but to believe them, though it will get credited along with next ie., the 14th Installment of PM KISAN as now bank details are updated.

The 14th Installment was credited on the 27th July 2023. The farmer rushed to the Bank hoping he might have got a previous pending instalment too…But, to his surprise, he received only the 14th Installment.

What went wrong?

Earlier they said Bank details are not mapped with the NPCI, now they are Mapped.

The 14th Installment has been credited, which means Bank details are validated.

As usual, dropped emails, but this time no response, the only reply from NPCI is bank details are mapped with the NPCI portal.

It has been almost 2 months since the 14th Installment credited on 27th July. The farmer waited…waited…with a ray of hope that 13th installment will also get credited, but nothing happened, no response to call on PM KISAN portal helpline, No reply to emails, No information from the State Agriculture department. This is the plight of our Governance lacking information sharing and coordination between the state and central administration.

The farmer gave up his hopes on the 13th Installment, for which he had been waiting for almost 6 months.

Finally, I finally filed an RTI Application, with all possible points on 25th September 2023 and assured him he would get positive news soon.

Finally, his efforts paid off, just within 2 days of filing the RTI application, he received a message alert from the Bank that ₹2,000 had been credited to his account and not just his issue resolved, with his single RTI application, The rest of the farmers in his Village who are facing similar issue also received the pending 13th Installment of PM KISAN which has supposed to get credited on 27th February, received on 27th September 2023 after waiting for 7 months.

The joy in the eyes of the Farmer cannot be expressed and to my surprise, I never thought that with his single RTI application, the issue of the entire village would get sorted out.

THANKS TO THE AGE-OLD RTI ACT, OF 2005,WICH HELPED THE FARMER WHERE NEW AGE DIGITAL INDIA FAILED TO DO SO…

I really wonder, while Govt has access to send SMS to the farmers greeting PM KISAN instalment is received, why doesn't have a similar option to send SMS to the farmers on what action to take for the Failed transactions….only Govt has the answer for this…

I urge the youth, to please learn about the simple RTI Act, 2005 it may not only help you individually but the entire society. With the recent SC order, all the states are mandated to set up an RTI portal, which has to be set up long back as mandated by the RTI act, but for reasons known to their own, they failed to do so.

By the end of this year, all the states will make the RTI Portal operational and you can make the requests to any of the departments just from your mobile at your doorstep.

Below are the screenshots of the RTI application and the reply received.