Chandigarh: To ensure transparency and empowerment of farmers, the government led by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has decided to make digital J-forms available to farmers across the state from April 1.
Praising the new initiative of Punjab Mandi Board (PMB), Chief Minister Mann said that this decision would benefit more than 9 lakh registered farmers which would enable them to enter mandis. J-Farms for the agricultural produce to be sold will be provided digitally simultaneously on their WhatsApp account after confirmation of sale on the system by the artisans and buyers.
Describing this farmer friendly initiative as a historic decision, Mann said that the initiative was aimed at providing the farmers of the state with the authentic digital J-form generated by the system, which was posted on the PMB's website. And also from Digilocker, Government of India Digital Documents Wallet.
It may be recalled that J-Farm is a receipt for sale of agricultural produce of farmers in mandis and was earlier issued by hand by artisans. Punjab Mandi Board is leading in the country by issuing e-JFARM (for Paddy and Wheat procured at MSP only) during the rabi and kharif marketing season 2021-22.
According to a spokesperson of the Chief Minister's Office, these digital J-forms would be available at all times for paddy and wheat procured at MSP. To ensure authenticity, the digital J-form comes with QR codes, watermarks and unique numbers. The spokesperson further said that J-Form in Digilocker is legally maintained by Information Intermediaries providing information technology Rule 9A (Digital Locker facilities) notified by GSR 711 (e) on February 8, 2017. And Maintenance) Rules, 2016 are equivalent to the original documents and can be used to raise funds from financial institutions, income tax exemptions, subsidy claims, farmer insurance, etc. and can be verified online.
