NEW DELHI: The Delhi government on Sunday decided to digitise the entire agricultural framework related to farming and farmers in the national capital under the Centre’s SASCI (Special Assistance to the States for Capital Investment) scheme.
As part of the initiative, a digital identity of farmers and a geo-mapped record of agricultural land will be created in Delhi. In return, the central government will provide financial assistance to the state. However, the assistance will not be released as a one-time grant and will instead be disbursed based on the achievement of defined targets.
Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the decision would ensure accurate land records and eliminate discrepancies in schemes related to crop insurance, compensation, minimum support price (MSP) and subsidies. She added that the new digital system would provide farmers with proper identification, rights and transparency in the overall process.
The Chief Minister said the objective of the Centre’s SASCI scheme is to incentivise states that integrate agriculture with digital systems. “Under this scheme, Delhi will implement the State Farmer Registry and the Digital Crop Survey. As the Delhi government completes these tasks, financial assistance from the Centre will be released accordingly,” she said, as per the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).
The central government has announced a special assistance package of Rs 5,000 crore for states across the country under the scheme. This amount will be provided to states that prepare digital records of farmers and farmland.
“Delhi will now receive its share from this allocation,” the CM said, adding that the state government is preparing to create a digital farmer registry, develop a comprehensive digital map of agricultural land and begin a digital crop survey.
For the first time in Delhi, manual crop inspection, also known as girdawari, will be replaced with a digital crop survey. The geo-location of every field will be recorded, photographs of crops will be taken and linked with satellite maps, and all agricultural land will undergo geo-referencing. Each field will be recorded with an accuracy of 20 metres, which will help eliminate issues such as fraudulent claims, incorrect land area reporting and forged documents.
Centre promises fInancial assistance
“Under the Centre’s SASCI (Special Assistance to the States for Capital Investment) scheme, Delhi will implement the State Farmer Registry and the Digital Crop Survey. As the government completes these tasks, financial assistance from the Centre will be released accordingly,” said CM. For the first time in Delhi, manual crop inspection will be replaced with a digital crop survey.