Invisible Farmers of Digital India

A Welfare Wall

The government claims 11 crore farmers benefit from PM-Kisan, yet 2.4 crore applications are rejected, often due to missing documents or Aadhaar errors. In Barabanki, Renu Devi, a 48-year-old widow, misses payments as her leased land is in her brother-in-law’s name.

Excluded by Design

The Farmer ID system assumes land ownership equals farming, ignoring Bihar’s common tenancy practices. Cultivators, especially women and Dalits, lack titles. Activist Nivedita Tiwari notes, "Digital governance ignores caste, gender, and feudalism." In Lalitpur, Dalit farmer Meera Yadav lost PM-Kisan eligibility after her husband’s death due to corrupt land record processes.

Tech Barriers

Aadhaar mismatches, faulty biometrics, and dormant bank accounts block access. Satyendra Singh, a Common Service Centre owner in Chhapra, says, "Old farmers’ fingerprints don’t scan; women’s accounts are often inactive." Poor connectivity in Sitamarhi forces villagers to travel miles for signals to upload files or receive OTPs.

Gender Gap

Women, over 40% of UP and Bihar’s agricultural workforce, rarely own land. Only 13% of rural women in Bihar hold titles, per National Family Health Survey data. RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj says, "Women are invisible unless widowed and lucky enough to inherit land."

Farmers Without IDs

Experts argue digital reforms need to reflect rural realities. Journalist P. Sainath observes, "Farmers are income-poor, data-poor, and politically invisible." Without provisions for informal farmers, millions remain excluded.

Conclusion

India’s digital welfare state falters in rural Bihar and UP. Ramdas Paswan, Renu Devi, and Meera Yadav are victims of a system that overlooks a key question: Who is a farmer?

Credit Note

Field interviews and data from Newslaundry, PM-Kisan dashboard, and Satark Nagrik Sangathan verified. Quotes checked and anonymized where needed.