Farmer ID

Context: The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (MoA&FW) has made Farmer ID mandatory for new applicants to enrol into the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) and get benefits under the scheme. The farmer ID guarantees that the applicant-farmer owns the land, and thus the PM-KISAN registration process would be vastly simplified.

Relevance of the Topic: Prelims- Farmer ID, Digital Agriculture Mission, Agristack, PM-KISAN Scheme.

What is a Farmer ID?

• Farmer ID (also known as Kisan Pehchaan Patra) is an Aadhaar-linked Unique Digital Identity of the farmers.
• Created and maintained by: State Governments/ Union Territories.
• The IDs will be linked to various farmer-related data including:
  • Land records
  • Livestock ownership
  • Crops sown
  • Benefits and subsidies availed 
  • Demographic and family details etc. 
• The database created through the Farmer ID will be known as Farmer’ registry. It is one of the three registries under Agri Stack component of the Centre’s Digital Agriculture Mission for creation of digital public infrastructure in the farm sector.

Benefits of Farmer ID: 

• Targeted delivery: Only legitimate and eligible farmers receive subsidies and benefits and eliminates duplication in government schemes.
• Precision agriculture: Facilitates data-driven policy-making for better crop planning, insurance, and market linkages.
• Empowerment of farmers: Encourages financial inclusion by enabling easy access to credit and crop insurance.

What is the PM KISAN scheme?

• The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme is a Central Sector Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Scheme, under which, financial assistance of Rs.6000/- per annum is provided to all landholding farmer families across the country, subject to certain exclusion criteria relating to higher income strata.
• Objective: To enable them to take care of expenses related to agriculture and allied activities as well as domestic needs.  
• The amount is transferred in three 4-monthly installments of Rs. 2000/- each, directly into the bank accounts of the beneficiary farmers identified by the State/UT Governments.
• Eligibility: Extended to all farmer families irrespective of the size of their landholdings. (Originally, landholding farmers having a farming area up to 2 hectares were eligible for the scheme).
• Exclusions: 
  • Farmer families who pay income tax, with government employees and professionals like doctors etc. are excluded.
  • Former and current constitutional officeholders.
  • Previous and current Ministers/State Ministers, MPs/MLAs/SLCs/ Mayors former and present District Panchayat Chairpersons.
  • All serving or former officials and workers of Central/State Government Ministries/Offices/Departments and their field units.
  • All superannuated/retired pensioners whose monthly pension is Rs.10,000/- or higher (excluding Multi-Tasking Staff / Class IV/Group D employees).
• Recently, a Parliamentary panel has recommended doubling the yearly payouts under the PM-Kisan to Rs 12,000 per annum from the present Rs 6,000.