Discuss how the Aadhaar–PFMS–NPCI architecture has changed welfare delivery in India, with reference to PM-KISAN. What exclusion risks remain?

India's welfare delivery has moved from transfers that leaked through middlemen to a digital pipeline. Aadhaar verifies identity, PFMS tracks the funds, and NPCI sends the credit to the bank account. PM-KISAN pays ₹6,000 a year, in three ₹2,000 instalments, to landholding farmer families. It shows how far this system reaches and where it still leaves people out [1].

States verify → Aadhaar–bank validation → PFMS check → DA&FW sanction → sponsor bank + NPCI → farmer's account

Fig: PM-KISAN payment chain [1]

How the architecture has changed delivery

• Scale and speed: the 24th instalment (30 October 2026, Banaskantha) reached 9.34 crore farmers in one release. Total payments so far stand at ₹4.64 lakh crore [1].
• No intermediaries: money goes straight to Aadhaar-seeded accounts, so local officials no longer handle the cash [1].
• Traceability: every payment can be traced, so wrong payments can be recovered. ₹416.75 crore had been recovered from ineligible people by December 2025 [1].
• Easier e-KYC: face authentication (2023) helps farmers whose fingerprints fail. The Kisan-eMitra AI chatbot gives help in 11 languages through BHASHINI [1].
• Shared roles: States identify the beneficiaries and the Centre pays them. A review chaired by the Cabinet Secretary monitors the scheme [1].

Exclusion risks that remain

• Exclusion by design: you need a land record to qualify, so tenants, sharecroppers and landless workers are left out. The Standing Committee on Agriculture (2020) asked the Centre to include them [4]. In December 2024 the Centre said it had "no proposal" to do so [3].
• Data mismatches: failed e-KYC, or a mismatch between Aadhaar, bank and land records, stops payment. Beneficiaries fell from about 9.44 crore (23rd instalment) [2] to 9.34 crore four months later [1], and no reasons have been published.
• Digital divide: elderly and remote farmers rely on CSCs and on connectivity to register and complete e-KYC [1].
• Clean-ups that cut genuine farmers: in Bihar, eligibility rested on self-declaration. ₹62.67 crore went to ineligible people and only about 8% came back [5]. When lists are purged after such cases, genuine farmers can be removed too.

The JAM–PFMS–NPCI system has made welfare faster, more transparent and accountable, but it still leaves out farmers who lack land records or accurate data. Reforms should include AgriStack registries that record tenancies, checks before payment rather than after, published reasons for every name removed, and faster grievance handling through CPGRAMS. With these, DBT can deliver the welfare state promised in Article 38 and help meet SDGs 1 and 2.