The sale receipt of a farmer's agricultural produce in mandis is known as a 'J form' (grain market). Because the majority of farmers in Punjab sell their products through such agents solely, these documents were previously provided manually by arthiyas (commission agents).
What is the ‘J’ form?
From the start of the Rabi procurement season, which began on Friday, the Punjab Mandi Board has decided to issue a 'digital form J' to farmers' WhatsApp numbers. Punjab would be the first state in the country to deliver digitized form J in real-time, to increase transparency and empower farmers.
Around 9 lakh registered farmers are expected to benefit from the decision, as they would be able to sell their product (wheat) at MSP during this procurement season.
Before the J form was digitized, numerous arhtiyas tended to hoard these forms for themselves rather than giving them to the farmers, as was their right. As a result, many farmers have no documentation of their earnings after selling their crops.
Farmers will have a clear record of the crop sold and the income received as a result of having their J form digitized, and they will save time by not having to run to arhtiyas to collect copies of their sales. After a transaction is approved on the system by the arthiyas and buyers, which are mostly government procurement organizations, these forms will be delivered directly to a farmer's WhatsApp number.
If a farmer's WhatsApp number changes, the J forms will appear in their Digi locker, which is legally similar to original physical documents under Rule 9A of the Information Technology (Preservation and Retention of Information by Intermediaries Providing Digital Locker Facilities) Rules, 2016, which was notified on February 8, 2017. They would be able to get the digitized J form for procured paddy and wheat by simply entering their Aadhaar card number into the system.
How is this helping the farmers?
The 'J form' can be used to get financial assistance from banking institutions, as well as for IT waivers, subsidy claims, and farmer's insurance. Aside from that, it may be able to help farmers in securing admission for their children to educational institutions in other countries.
"For example, many Punjabi farmers' children are now studying in other countries.”They must give income evidence and then the 'J form,' which is considered a genuine document of income in the Canadian embassy," a mandi board official explained. He went on to say that the destructive Covid waves were a gift in disguise since they forced authorities to focus on the internet system.
Ravi Bhagat, Secretary of the Punjab State Agricultural Marketing Board, who is the driving force behind the digitalization, said the initiative will ensure authenticity. A QR code, a watermark, and a unique number will be included with the digital J forms.
"Not only will this be beneficial to farmers, but it will also benefit their families, the state, and the federal government." The measure will put an end to grain theft by some arhtiyas. When a digitized form J is delivered to a farmer's phone number, his family can learn about his actual earnings. Some farmers conceal their earnings from their families to buy liquor with the money. This will come to an end. According to Abjinder Sangha, a farmer in Malerkotla's Gowara village, "some landowners — who are not active in farming — display their revenue under farming to escape Income Tax payments."
