Explainer: Digital IDs for Punjab farmers

TAKING a cautious approach, the Punjab government has opted for the Centre’s AgriStack scheme, which seeks to bring transparency in the agriculture sector. After considering the political and financial implications of any reform in the agriculture sector — which continues to be the mainstay of the state economy — the Aam Aadmi Party government has started sharing data of farmers with the Centre to implement the Kisan Pehchan Patra scheme, or the unique digital farmer IDs.

About the scheme

Creating unique identity cards for farmers is part of the AgriStack project under the Centre’s Digital Agriculture Mission. The objective is to ensure timely and targeted delivery of services in a government-backed digital ecosystem.

The system has been successfully rolled out in several states, including Gujarat and Maharashtra. In Haryana, plans to implement the scheme are in the discussion stage, officials said.

Before the rollout in Punjab, a pilot project was carried out in Fatehgarh Sahib.

As part of the scheme, the state government will create and maintain geo-referenced village maps, farmers’ registry and records of the crop sown in the state.

Why the rollout

The Pehchan Patra, according to the Central government, will help verify the identity of beneficiaries applying for schemes meant for farmers; subsidies for machinery, seeds and fertilisers; and financial aid in times of distress.

There are around 13,000 villages in Punjab, but agriculture operations are carried out only in 10,800. Of these, data for 9,700 villages has already been shared for rolling out the scheme, which is akin to giving Aadhaar-like cards to farmers, according to official sources in the state Revenue Department. It is reportedly in the process of testing the Application Programming Interface (API) link.

The Agriculture Department is at the helm of affairs for launching this scheme and officials say they have also released funds to the Revenue Department for its quick rollout.

“This digital ID, issued to all farmers, will ensure that only genuine farmers get the subsidy. The land owned by each farmer, crop cultivated by them in different marketing seasons and total land revenue records will be just a click away, Once this is rolled out, the girdawari (crop inspection), including during times of natural calamity, can be done immediately and relief provided to farmers instantly,” said the officer.

Weeding out the ineligible

The digital Kisan Pehchan Patras will ensure there is no duplication of beneficiaries or ineligible beneficiaries do not get registered for farmer welfare schemes. For example, in the case of the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme, repeated checks have ensured that from the start of this scheme in 2019-20 till now, almost 14 lakh ineligible beneficiaries have been weeded out.

When there is a unique ID, the chances of enrolling ineligible beneficiaries becomes rather bleak, officials noted.

How to register

Farmers will have the option to either download an app and self-register or go to the Agriculture Department office for registration, along with a copy of the Aadhaar card, bank account details, land records and a photograph.

After verification of documents and farmers giving consent to link the Aadhaar details, land records and registered phone number, they will be enrolled to get the IDs.

Farm unions not enthused

Farm unions remain sceptical about the scheme mainly because of their deep-rooted distrust about any new scheme that has the potential to “impact their income or expose them to corporates” — which they vehemently oppose, including during the year-long farmers’ struggle on the borders of Delhi in 2020-21.

Kirti Kisan Union leader Rajinder Singh Deepsinghwala said the farmers are opposed to this scheme because they fear misuse of data collected by the government, “which could land in the hands of corporates”.

“The corporates could directly go in for unorganised contract farming, bypassing the mandi system. There is also a risk of genuine farmers being excluded because of data discrepancies, as has happened in various other schemes. The government already has digital land records. Where is the demand for this digitisation? As of now, farmers are more concerned about getting MSP on all crops and a debt waiver or relief scheme,” he said.