Lok Sabha Question No. 364 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-07-19
Subject: Digital Facilities to Farmers
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Kanakmal Katara

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 364

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 19 TH  JULY, 2022

## DIGITAL FACILITIES TO FARMERS

364. SHRI KANAKMAL KATARA:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी be pleased to state:

- (a) the  details  of  the  schemes  to  provide  digital  service  facilities  to  the  farmers  in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh;
- (b) the  details  fo  steps  being  taken  to  prevent the  misuse  of  personal  data  of  farmers; and
- (c) the  action  taken  or  proposes  to  be  taken  on  the  institutions  involved  in  misuse  of personal data?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE क ृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

- (a) The Government is reaching out to farmers of the country through various digital services through digital platforms including websites and mobile applications for better implementation of the schemes including the state of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Digital Services to the farmers are as under:
- i.Sub  Mission  on  Agricultural  Mechanization  (SMAM)  is  being  implemented  w.e.f April,2014.The scheme aims at 'reaching the unreached' by bringing to the small and marginal  farmers  in  the  core  and  giving  the  benefits  of  farm  mechanization,  by Promoting  'Custom  Hiring  Centers'  ,  creating  hubs  for  hi-tech  &  high  value  farm equipments,  distribution  of  various  agricultural  equipments,  creating  awareness among  stakeholders  through  demonstration  and  capacity  building  activities,  and ensuring performance- testing and certification at designated testing centers located all over the country.
- ii.National  Agriculture  Market  (e-NAM)  is  a  pan-India  electronic  trading  portal  which networks the existing APMC mandis to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities.  Digital  services  are  provided  to  traders,farmers,  Farmers  Producer

Organizations (FPO),  Mandis through various modules of e-NAM platform such as FPO trading module, warehouse based trading module.

- iii.Under PM KISAN Scheme, fund is directly transferred into the bank accounts of the eligible  farmers  under  Direct  Benefit  Transfer  mode.  Farmers  can  do  their  selfregistration  through  the  Farmers  Corner  in  the  portal.  PM-KISAN  Mobile  App  was launched to broaden the reach of the scheme where farmers can view the status of their application, update or carry out corrections of name based on their Aadhaar card and also check history of credits to their bank accounts.
- iv.Integrated  Scheme  for  Agricultural  Marketing  schemes  (AGMARKNET)  to  promote creation of agricultural marketing infrastructure by providing backend subsidy support to  State,  cooperative  and  private  sector  investments  Services  are  provided  through (AGMARKNET) portal which is a G2C e-governance portal that caters to the needs of various stakeholders  such as farmers, industry,  policy  makers  and  academic institutions  by  providing  agricultural  marketing  related  information  from  a  single window. It facilitates web- based information flow, of the daily arrivals and prices of commodities in the agricultural produce markets spread across the country.
- v.Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF): To mobilize a medium - long term debt finances facility  for  investment  in  viable  projects  for  post-harvest  management  Infrastructure and  community farming  assets  through  incentives  and  financial  support  in  order  to improve  agriculture  infrastructure  in  the  country.  Financial  assistance  is  provided digitally in the form of Interest Subvention and Credit Guarantee for setting up postharvest management  Infrastructure  to beneficiaries such  as  Farmers, Primary Agricultural  Credit  Societies  (PACS),  Farmer  Producers  Organisations  (FPOs),  Self Help Groups (SHG), State Agencies/APMCs.
- vi.National  Mission  on  Horticulture:    It  Promotes  holistic  development  of  Horticulture sector (including bamboo & coconut) HORTNET project is a web enabled work flowbased  system  for providing financial assistance under MIDH.  It is a unique intervention  to  accomplish  e-Governance  in  NHM  where-in  total  transparency  has been  envisaged  in  all  the  processes  of  workflow  i.e.,  online  application  filing, authentication,  processing  and  online  payment  to  the  beneficiary's  bank  account through DBT.
- vii.National Project on Soil Health and Fertility: To issue soil health cards to farmers of the  country,  so  as  to  provide  a  basis  to  address  nutrient  deficiencies  in  fertilization practices. Soil Health Card Portal is availablewhere farmers can track soil samples
- viii.Development  of  Kisan  Suvidha  mobile  application  to  facilitate  dissemination  of information to farmers on the critical parameters viz., Weather; Market Prices; Plant Protection;  input  Dealers  (Seed,  Pesticide,  Fertilizer)  Farm  Machinery;  Soil  Health Card;  Cold  Storages  &  Godowns,  Veterinary  Centres  and  Diagnostic  Labs.  With market  information,  farmers  are  better  informed  about  markets  to  sell  produce, prevailing market prices and quantity demanded in the market. Thus, they can make informed decisions to sell produce at the right price and right time.
- ix.The Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) has also compiled more than 100 mobile  apps  developed  by  ICAR,  State  Agricultural  Universities  and  Krishi  Vigyan Kendras and uploaded on its website. These mobile apps developed in the areas of
- crops, horticulture, veterinary, dairy, poultry, fisheries, natural resources management and integrated subjects, offer valuable information to the farmers, including package of  practices,  market  prices  of  various  commodities,  weather  related  information, advisory services, etc.
- x.Government  is  providing  advisories  services  on  various  crop  related  matter  to  the registered farmers through SMSs.
- xi.Further,  Government  of  Uttar  Pradesh  has  informed  that  their  Scheme  of  Use  of Information Technology for the Development of Agriculture is providing digital service in the state from the last five year. Through the scheme there is online registration of farmers to take advantage of Departmental Schemes. DBT of Subsidies is being done to the registered farmers in a transparent manner. Fertilizers, Seeds and Pesticides Licenses  are  being  issued  Online.  Under  the  PM  KUSUM/SMAM  Schemes,  Solar Pumps/Agriculture  Implements  are  being  distributed  by  issuing  online  token  to  the farmers.
- xii.Government of Rajasthan has informed that an Online Integrated Platform 'RajKisanSaathi'  is  a  single  window  platform  for  farmers  to  provide  various  online services to farmers being provided by Agriculture, Horticulture, Agriculture Marketing Board  &  Agriculture  Marketing  Department.  Wherein  only  Aadhaar/Jan-Aadhaar  be used as indentify for secured delivery of services to farmers.
-  Paperless  process  from  application  to  disbursement  with  SMS  facility  at  each stage of DBT process.
-  One-time registration & Creation of Farmer databank.
-  Complete end-to-end online process of subsidy distribution comprising of application, document scrutiny, physical verification, administrative sanction, financial sanction  and  disbursement  in  Jan-Aadhaar  linked  bank  account  no.  through  Public Financial Management System (PFMS).

(b) &  (c):Care  has  been  taken  so  that  the  details  of  the  beneficiary  under  all  the scheme remains safe. Sensitive  Data  is  masked  in  the  information  provided  in  the public domain.

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