Crop insurance money lands in payments bank a/cs, ryots clueless

BENGALURU: Hundreds of farmers in Karnataka who have linked their Airtel mobile numbers with Aadhaar haven’t received cash — due to them under the crop insurance scheme — via the Centre’s direct benefit transfer (DBT) system. Reason: Benefits transferred by the government have gone into Airtel Payments Bank accounts, which beneficiary farmers don’t even know exist.
This came to light after 68 farmers in Haveri district lodged a complaint with the agriculture department saying they hadn’t received the benefits unlike many others who had got them in February and March.“On cross-checking, we got to know the benefits had landed in Airtel Payments Bank accounts. But these farmers aren’t aware they have such accounts. The company should have told them about money being deposited in their accounts, but it didn’t even bother to inform the government,” said agriculture minister BC Patil.
According to him, the company opened accounts of many farmers in the payments bank and linked them to their Aadhaar numbers which it collected while selling sim cards. “It did so without the farmers’ full knowledge. When we transferred the amount, it went into the payments bank accounts since they’re linked to farmers’ Aadhaar numbers,” Patil alleged.
The state government disbursed a whopping Rs 2,854.9 crore towards crop insurance claims during 2019-20 and doesn’t know how much of it has gone into the payments bank accounts. “We have no idea. We only provide Aadhaar numbers of beneficiaries to banks, which in turn transfer the money to Aadhaar-linked accounts,” said agriculture commissioner Brijesh Kumar Dixit. The government has requested farmers to delink their Aadhaar numbers with Airtel Payments Bank accounts and instead link them to their accounts in other banks which are active and operational.
‘Unethical, but not illegal’
Asked if the company’s conduct attracts any legal punishment, Dixit said: “We can say it’s an unethical and immoral practice on the part of the bank to keep farmers in the dark, though legally and technically, it’s on the right side of the law as farmers have signed documents giving their consent to open the accounts.”
The minister said around Rs 8 crore was deposited in Airtel Payments Bank accounts last year too and the amount was still there. “Correspondence with bank representatives is on,” said Dixit.
Officials said the issue has come to light late in Karnataka. In 2018, Reserve Bank of India imposed a penalty of Rs 5 crore on Airtel Payments Bank for violating operating guidelines and KYC norms. Based on complaints and adverse media reports alleging the bank had opened customers’ accounts without their clear/specific consent, RBI conducted a supervisory visit and scrutinised related documents. It found the bank had opened the accounts without clear/specific consent of customers.