Initially, only those with clear title to land to get cards
TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday launched his pet project, the Krishi Card, a common card for agriculture and dairy farmers as well as fishermen, to help them avail of government schemes.
The card with provide its holder with a unique number which will act as a token to retrieve a complete history of the farmer online. The smart card with 64 KB storage capacity is can store complete details of the farmer including biometric identification, land records, agricultural / dairy assets, crop details, demographics and subsidy transactions. Smart Card readers which will be made available with various ZAOs / institutions will facilitate reading and updating of details. The card can also be linked with Aadhar Card.
Speaking on the occasion the Chief Minister said, “It (issuing of Krishi Card) is an attempt to increase the growth rate of the agriculture and allied sector and help the farmer in getting hassle-free loans. Currently one needs to carry loads of documents to avail various schemes / subsidies of the Government and compilation of these documents from various departments for every scheme to be availed,” Parrikar said.
Holding such a card will entitle the farmer to an agricultural loan at the rate of 1% and will help the department in retaining a single copy of all documents pertaining to a farmer which would be referred across all schemes, assisting the department in faster and efficient delivery of schemes and assisting the Government in monitoring utilization of funds for all schemes.
Parrikar said that the processes of registering farmers for issuing Krishi Cards will continue hereafter which was started from March 20, 2013. He said this year as many as 20,000 to 25,000 registered farmers and those who are deriving the benefit of subsidy will be accorded priority for issuing Krishi Cards.
The Chief Minister symbolically handed over Krishi Cards to 12 farmers from Tiswadi and Bardez Taluka to mark the launching of the scheme. However with huge discrepancies and vagueness in the definition of the term ‘farmer’, the efficacy of the card remains to be seen.
Initially Goa Electronics Limited, which is managing the cards, will register only those farmers who have a clear title to their land. But then this would include only 20% of farmers in the state as more than 80% of them do not own the land they till.
This and other challenges are likely to pose huge hurdles for the agriculture department.
