Centre Plans 12-Digit Unique ID For Farmers For Easy Access To Schemes

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Centre Plans 12-Digit Unique ID For Farmers For Easy Access To Schemes

A unique ID for each farmer is part of the government's efforts to create a database by collating data from various schemes, such as PM-Kisan, and linking them with land records.

The Centre has started generating 12-digit unique IDs for farmers that can be used to avail all farm-related services under various schemes "seamlessly", according to a senior official of the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare

Vivek Aggarwal, Additional Secretary, Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, said that a unique ID for each farmer is part of the government's efforts to create a database by collating data from various schemes, such as PM-Kisan, and linking them with land records.

He further added, "The intent is to create a unified farmer service interface. The unique ID will enable them to avail various government schemes and credit facilities seamlessly, and help the Centre and state governments in better planning of procurement operations."

Implementation In process

So far, the names of 5.5 crore farmers have been registered from 11 states, which includes Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. Once the figure reaches 8 crore, the unique farmer IDs will be made public. The remaining states, including Telangana, Kerala and Punjab, will be covered in the coming months.
Aggarwal said that the database is being extracted from existing schemes such as PM-Kisan, Soil Health Card, and PM Fasal Bima Yojana. The extracted data will be linked with land record details available with state governments. An Aadhaar card will be used as a deduplication mechanism.

Geographical Information System (GIS) will be used to link land records. This will help farmers get accurate advisories with regards to cropping pattern, seed selection, irrigation schedules, nutrition and pest management among other things. The Union Agriculture Ministry recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoUs) with 10 private companies, including CISCO, Ninjacart, Jio Platforms, ITC Star Agribazaar, Esri India, Patanjali etc.


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