ADMINISTRATIVE EXCLUSION FROM PM-KISAN IN HARYANA: LAND-RECORD VERIFICATION AND FARMER ACCESS

Abstract

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) provides eligible landholding farmer families in India with ₹6,000 per year in direct income support. Since 2020, the scheme has made payment conditional on e-KYC, Aadhaar-bank seeding, and land-record verification. In Haryana, administrative disclosures between December 2022 and June 2024 report verification pendency of roughly 16-19% among already-enrolled farmers, alongside a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit finding separate wrongful-inclusion errors. This paper compiles official state- and district-level pendency data for Haryana over this period and reads it alongside secondary case material - an IIHS field survey and CAG audit findings - on how exclusion occurs due to pendency. It finds that reported pendency is not one comparable series but several distinct metrics, and that a meaningful share of pendency reflects procedural exclusion (unentered mutations) rather than confirmed ineligibility. Keywords: PM-KISAN; welfare exclusion; land-record verification; direct benefit transfer; Haryana; farmer welfare; land-seeding.