Big announcements made for farmers in the budget
In Budget 2024, the government has said that increasing farmer and agricultural productivity is its first priority. In the budget, the government has mentioned a total of 9 priorities, of which this is the highest. Along with this, the government has talked about strengthening the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in the agriculture sector. After all, how will this provide a strong base to the poor destitute farmers of the country who depend on the monsoon?
Agriculture and farmers are the basis of India’s economy, because a large population of the country is still engaged in this occupation. In such a situation, can the Aadhar card coming under DPI or any system based on it bring a change in their lives?
In the budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has talked about using the potential of DPI in the agriculture sector. The government also wants to use DPI in sectors ranging from e-commerce to MSME, health, law and others. By the way, the government is already using Jan Dhan account, Aadhaar and mobile payment under DPI to give PM Kisan Samman Nidhi to farmers.
This is how DPI will benefit the agriculture sector
By the financial year 2027-28, India will be the third largest economy in the world. In such a situation, it is important to maintain the growth of the agricultural sector as well. Talking about the success of DPI, from 2013 to 2021, with its help, the government has saved about Rs 2.2 lakh crore in subsidy and fund transfer alone. This is more than 1 percent of the country’s current GDP.
Now if we imagine the use of DPI in the agriculture sector, then at present the farmer has to go to the market to sell his produce. Where he gets payment according to the market price. Now if this process is digitized, then every farmer will have the details of his land i.e. the land will have its own identification like Aadhaar. He will have a farmer ID.
The government has already started the e-Naam scheme to bring mandis across the country online. Where the prices of commodities are known in every mandi. Now the government is going to focus on developing a digital platform for farmers. On this, the farmer will enter his details, crop details and land details. He will immediately know the possible best price of his crop. Then if he wants, he can deliver his crop directly from the fields to the buyers or the buyers can pick up the goods from him. At the same time, its payment will go directly to the farmer’s account.
Farmers will be able to connect with the economy
There will be one more benefit of the government doing this. The data of agricultural land, sowing on it, production on it will be available at one place. This will help the government in making better policies. Schemes like Bhu-Aadhaar will make the work of land transactions, compensation to the right person etc. easier. Not only this, the government will have the correct data of farmers and their economic condition, which can help in connecting them to the formal economy of the country.
