Aadhaar made compulsory for farmers to avail MSP

CHENNAI: Farmers who avail Minimum Support Price (MSP) and other incentives from the State government will now have to produce their Aadhaar numbers to claim the MSP as the government issued a gazette notification making Aadhar compulsory for farmers.

The order was issued under Section 7 of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 in which it has been stated that "a farmer eligible for receiving benefits under the scheme shall hereby be required to furnish the proof of possession of the Aadhaar number or undergo Aadhaar authentication."

The Cooperation, Food and Consumer Protection Department have been administering the procurement of paddy under decentralised procurement system of the Union government during Kharif and Rabi season to provide MSP and incentives for the paddy procured to the farmers. While so far, Aadhaar was not mandatory for farmers to receive MSP, the State government with an intention to regulate the flow of money to the farmers have introduced the new regulations.

"The usage of Aadhaar as an identity document for delivery of services or benefits or subsidies simplifies the government delivery processes, brings in transparency and efficiency and enables beneficiaries to get their entitlements directly in a convenient and seamless manner by obviating the need to produce multiple documents to provide one's identity," the State government said in the gazette order.

Farmers who do not possess Aadhaar cards are directed to apply for one before registering for availing MSP and incentives. Till the time the farmers receive the Aadhaar cards, they can avail MSP and incentives if they posses the identification slip for enrolling in Aadhaar apart from any one of the ID cards such as bank or post office passbooks, PAN card, passport, voter ID card, driving license, certificate issued by a gazetted officer and any other document issued by the department.