MUMBAI, Sept. 12 -- After discovering 2.6 million ineligible beneficiaries under its flagship Ladki Bahin scheme, the Maharashtra government has identified another ambitious scheme similarly draining its coffers. Only last week, the Devendra Fadnavis-led Mahayuti government realised it was paying 79,000 farmers under its Namo Shetkari Mahasanman Nidhi Yojana (NSMNY) Rs.500 a month even though they did not qualify for the benefit, a loss of Rs.110.6 crore in just under two and a half years. The discovery was made when the central government sent the state a list of 1.44 lakh beneficiaries under scrutiny under the centrally sponsored PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. The state uses the same list to identify beneficiaries under its NSMNY, launched in April 2023. Of the 1.44 lakh names flagged by the Union agriculture ministry, 79,000 have been deleted as these farmers were also drawing the cash benefit in their spouses' names. Since the list is common to both welfare schemes, each of these farmers had been drawing Rs.1,000 a month - each scheme transfers Rs.2,000 to each farmer's bank account, once every four months. Only recently, Fadnavis announced the disbursement of Rs.1,892.61 crore towards the seventh instalment of the NSMNY. The PM Kisan Sanman Nidhi, launched by the central government in April 2019, has over 9 million beneficiaries. The ineligible farmers were detected a few weeks ago when the central government was verifying data submitted by farmers under its Agristack drive, said an official from the state agriculture department. Agristack is a digital registry that contains key information about farmers, such as land records, family details, income and bank details. While the registry makes it easier for farmers to access financial services, quality farm inputs, farming advice and access to the markets, it helps the government deliver welfare schemes and policies. The Agristack registry, which assigns each farmer a unique identification number (UIN), is currently being built and data is constantly being collated. "It was during this process that the agriculture ministry discovered the duplication of names." "These are families where both husband and wife were beneficiaries and the scheme does not allow two beneficiaries in the same family. It means these beneficiaries have drawn benefits fraudulently so far," said an official from the agriculture department. The official said that while 1.44 lakh farmers have been flagged, 79,000 names have been altogether deleted. "The payout to the remaining 65,000 farmers has been suspended for various reasons. These include failure to seed the Agristack database with their Aadhaar numbers, deaths, and failure to submit proof of non-payment of income tax in three of the last five years. This is not the first time the state's Namo Shetkari Mahasanman Nidhi Yojana has had fraudulent beneficiaries. In 2020-21, the central government had discovered lakhs of ineligible beneficiaries, including the names of MLAs and MPs and had asked the state government to recover the amount. The state launched a drive to recover the money it had paid out. Of the targeted Rs.1,550 crore from 1.33 million ineligible, it has recovered only Rs.95 crore so far....