Agriculture: Land records integrated with Centre’s e-portal by all but 3 states

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 13

Land records have been integrated with the Centre’s e-portal by most states, barring three, the government on Monday said, adding that the procurement in the Kharif Marketing Season 2021-22 will be according to the new mechanism.

Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey today said most of the procuring states, barring Assam, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir, are ready and have integrated digital land records with the nodal procurement agency Food Corporation of India (FCI).

“Most States, including Punjab, are in complete readiness,” he said, adding that every State wants farmers to benefit from the procurement process.

Cross-checking land records before the procurement will ensure that the MSP reaches farmers and not traders, Pandey said asserting that the new mechanism is in the interest of farmers. He also said the crop cultivated by farmers, whether in their own land or rented property, will be procured by the government.

“It is not necessary for farmers to own the land, if they have cultivated any land the crop will be procured,” he said.

The main objective is to find out how much crop has been cultivated in what area and accordingly procure and that the government procures from genuine farmers and not from traders, he added.

Farmers will not have to provide physical proofs of land records while registering.

Some states like Uttar Pradesh and Odisha had already integrated their land records.

Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal, who was also present at the interaction said the government’ intention is to ensure actual farmers get the benefit of MSP, which has “increased substantially in the past five years”.

Regarding farmers’ objection to Rs 40 a quintal rise wheat MSP, he said the government was committed to giving the farmers 50 per cent return over the cost and in those terms wheat, rapeseed and mustard got “100 per cent return over the cost”

Rs 491 cr released to Punjab, Haryana and UP for stubble burning issue

Meanwhile, around Rs 491 crore have been released to Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh ahead of harvesting of Kharif crops for tackling the stubble burning issue, Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal said, adding that a meeting with representatives of Punjab and Haryana governments will be held soon in this regard.

Agarwal said the states have also been asked to allow gram sabhas to open custom hiring centres so that small farmers can have access to machines and equipment used in the management of crop residue.

Harvesting of paddy, the main Kharif crop, will begin from October onwards and stubble burning remains a major cause of air pollution in Northern plains in the weeks that follow

In the 2021-22 FY, the Centre released Rs 491 crore funds to Punjab, Haryana and UP for tackling the stubble burning issue of which Rs 235 crore was for Punjab, Rs 141 crore for Haryana and Rs 115 crore to Uttar Pradesh, he said.

In the last four years, Rs 1,050.68 crore has been released to Punjab, Rs 640.9 crore to Haryana, Rs 489.08 crore to UP and Rs 4.52 crore to Delhi for management of crop residue.  So far about 21,125 custom hiring centres have been opened in Punjab and 4,224 centres in Haryana, he also said.