Maharashtra Government Decides Not to Give Benefits to Farmers Without Digital ID
The GR stated that the Agriculture commissioner will have to create awareness among the tillers about the farmer IDs, which is necessary for getting the benefits of the farm schemes.
Mumbai: Maharashtra government will provide subsidy only to those farmers who are having digital farmer ID cards from April 15 of this year. The state agriculture department has issued an order making the farmer’s ID number compulsory to get the benefits of any schemes run by the state government.
A government official said that the state government wants to plug leakages in the subsidies provided to the farmers. To this end, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had instructed the agriculture department to incorporate the task of providing digital IDs to the tillers.
The Agri Stack, which provides farmers Digital IDs with a unique number, is an initiative of the government of India. It aims to help the farmers to get easier access to cheaper credit, high-quality farm inputs, localised and specific advice, which help to improve the agriculture sector in the country and enable better outcomes.
The state government has issued a GR (government resolution) in connection with making Farmer Identification Number (Farmer ID) mandatory for availing the benefits of schemes implemented by the agriculture department.
According to the GR, the farmers, who have not registered themselves for the identity card number, will have to register on the concerned portal with the help of Gram Krishi Vikas Samiti and CSC (Community Service Centre). Agriculture Commissioner Suraj Mandhre has been asked to make necessary technical improvements on all the concerned portals, websites and online systems so that the farmers can be given the benefits of government schemes only with the farmer identity card number.
A senior official said that the farmer ID contains the name of the farmer along with an unique number. This unique number has created a digital account for the farmers. The account will have the records of the land belonging to the farmer, geo-referencing of the land and crop survey report. There are 1.19 crore farmers across the state.
The GR stated that the Agriculture commissioner will have to create awareness among the tillers about the farmer IDs, which is necessary for getting the benefits of the farm schemes.
