GUIDELINES FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF AGRISTACK IN THE UNION TERRITORY OF PUDUCHERRY.

Registered No. PY/44/2021-23 Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under No. 10410 Amflºƒˆ \VWÈ ∂´E>µ La Gazette de L' État de Poudouchéry The Gazette of Puducherry

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No. 92 Poudouchéry Jeudi 24 Août 2023 (2 Bhadra 1945)

No. Puducherry Thursday 24th August 2023

GOVERNMENT OF PUDUCHERRY

CHIEF SECRETARIAT (AGRICULTURE)

(G.O. Ms. No. 10/Ag., Puducherry, dated 21st August 2023)

NOTIFICATION

Whereas, the Government of India has proposed to give a major push to Digital Agriculture in the Country, using new and emerging digital technologies so as to improve the efficiency, improved yields, better prices, etc. Towards this major initiative, the Government of India is creating a frame work for the AGRISTACK comprising three key registries, viz., farmers database with dynamic linking of land records; Geo-referencing of Village Maps and Real-time Crop Survey.

2. And whereas, developing a comprehensive and federated farmers database would serve as a core of the AGRISTACK, which, once operational would help the Government, both Central and States in effective planning and improving the efficiency of the agricultural sector as a whole and in sustained improvement in welfare and incomes of the farmers. Thus, the federated farmers database would eventually integrate with various data silos with the Government of India and the States.

3. And whereas, the Geo-referenced Village Maps will be linked to the farmers database, to easily perform the crop surveys and capture the crop information being grown on that farm or plot.

[ 643 ]LA GAZETTE DE L'ETAT [ PART-I 644 644 4. And whereas, the Real-time Crop Survey is to be done to determine crop type, quality, and growth rate in a farmland, which would help in estimating agricultural production and help the Governments in determining export policy, estimate crop loans and insurance, procurement under minimum support price, etc.

5. And whereas, to ensure systematic implementation of the Scheme, ensure accountability at all levels, streamline procedures and provide a legal framework and to further satisfy the Guidelines of Government of India, notification of the Guidelines for AGRISTACK has become imperative.

6. Now, therefore, the Hon'ble Lieutenant-Governor of Puducherry is pleased to approve the Guidelines for the implementation of AGRISTACK in the Union territory of Puducherry as detailed in the Annexure appended to this notification with immediate effect.

(By order of the Lieutenant-Governor)

SUNDARARAJAN. P, Deputy Secretary to Government (Agriculture).

ANNEXURE

GUIDELINES FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF AGRISTACK

IN THE UNION TERRITORY OF PUDUCHERRY

I. Farmers Database

1. The farmers' database shall be digitized through a web application or a mobile application designated by the Department and each beneficiary may be assigned a unique farmer ID. The issue of new farmer ID shall take precedence over previous unique farmer ID issued, if any.

2. Registration and allocation of an unique farmer ID shall be the essential prerequisite for any individual farmer/farm women/organization to avail financial assistance in any form from the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Puducherry/Government of India under the State and CSS, respectively.

3. The Additional Director of Agriculture (T&V), Puducherry, Additional Director of Agriculture, Karaikal, Deputy Director of Agriculture, Mahe and Deputy Director of Agriculture, Yanam, shall be the Registering Authorities for farmers ID Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam regions, respectively.

4. The beneficiary proposing to avail any assistance from the Department shall register themselves with all relevant details and copies of documents sought by the Registering Authorities.

5. The farmers' data structure shall comprise all essential personal details of the beneficiary and the parameters enunciated by the Government of India under AGRISTACK. The data structure shall be periodically reviewed to improve the services.

6. After assigning the ID in the system, the same has to be ported into the master register for reference and posterity. The new master register shall take the precedence over the older version, maintained, if any, and the responsibility would be on the Agricultural Officer concerned.

7. The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Puducherry, reserves the right to assign the services of farmers registration or any other related work to Common Service Centres of MeiTY, or Village entrepreneurs or any other agencies/ individuals notified by the Department, at the rates determined, as and when approved by the Competent Authority.

II. Ownership of Land

1. The applicability of ownership of the land for any assistance under CSS/State Plan Schemes shall be as prescribed by the Competent Authority concerned.

2. As per the guidelines of Government of India, normally the ownership of the land shall be in the name of the beneficiary concerned either individually or jointly and shall be digitally validated from the records of the Department of Survey and Land Records, Puducherry, through an API and this shall be adhered for the Schemes, wherever prescribed by the Government of India.

3. For assistance under State Plan Schemes, the Guidelines of the Government of India in respect of ownership shall be normally followed and it shall be the responsibility of the individual concerned to have the ownership transferred by subjecting himself/herself to the extant rules. In the absence of transfer of ownership, the individual shall submit an application before the Taluk Tahsildar concerned for transfer of ownership and submit a copy to the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Puducherry, as a proof for initiating the process.

4. In the case of joint ownership, the beneficiary shall submit a Consent/No Objection Certificate in the form of a Notary Affidavit from other legal owners for absolute claim or in its absence shall state the partition of extent of the land parcel claimed with the corresponding survey numbers and boundaries.

5. In the case of intestate properties, the beneficiary concerned shall expressly submit a copy of the legal heir certificate issued by a Court of Law or Revenue Authorities and in case of the number of legal heirs being more than one and the claim for any assistance is sought by anyone or more of the legal heir(s), there shall be a Consent/No Objection Certificate in the form of a Notary Affidavit from other legal heirs for absolute claim or in its absence shall state the partition of extent of the land parcel claimed with the corresponding survey numbers and boundaries.

6. Cases of ownership which are sub-judice before any Court of Law or where objections have been registered by any of the legal heirs of that particular property, are barred from consideration, on any ground.

7. Wherever, cultivation of crops are claimed by tenant cultivators by way of short term/long term lease, such beneficiaries shall submit registered/unregistered leased deeds or consent from the individual/institutions concerned or a cultivation certificate issued by the Revenue Authorities of the Government of Puducherry, as the case may be. This shall be applicable for share croppers also. However, lease deeds shall be obtained only from incumbent authorities in case of institutional lands or present owners in the case of private title properties. Lease deeds obtained from legacy title holders in both institutional/title properties shall not be allowed.

III. Crop Survey

1. The crop survey shall be done only through the GIS based Crop Survey mobile application designated for the purpose, by the Government of Puducherry/Government of India by the Agricultural Officer concerned or any other field staff designated for the purpose or any third party designated by the Government. 2. The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Puducherry, reserves the right to assign the services of crop survey or any other related work to Common Service Centres of MeiTY, or Village entrepreneurs or any other agencies/individuals notified by the Department, at the rates determined, as and when approved by the Competent Authority.

IV. General Guidelines

1. In case of leased lands, the lease deed shall be subject to the procedures in force and the date of closing of lease shall be monitored to avoid availing of benefits after expiry of the lease period by the lessee, but, acceptance of such leases are subject to the discretion of Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Puducherry/ Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, New Delhi, to qualify for any assistance.

2. In case of leases, the beneficiary concerned shall produce a copy of the certificate issued by the Lessor/Institution/Revenue Department, as the case may be, wherever needed.

3. The disbursement of financial assistance as incentive/subsidy or any assistance in the form of materials that aid farming, be it fully funded by the Government or partially borne by the beneficiary, under various schemes/ special projects under State Plan/Centrally Sponsored Schemes/Central Sector Schemes covering agriculture, horticulture, agricultural engineering and allied subjects shall be based on the unique farmer ID or any unique identifier like Aadhaar/Family Ration Card number for regular farmers or urban farmers, as the case may be and extended mandatorily through online applications. Expenditure proposals without online entries shall not be allowed by the Directorate or forwarded to the Competent Authorities, as the case may be. Reasons for absence of online applications, if any, are to be recorded by the Head of Office concerned.

4. The Deputy Directors, Joint Directors and Additional Directors are required to approve all the applications for farmer registrations, financial assistance and crop survey online with the credentials given, or in any other appropriate mode.

5. All reports submitted for expenditure sanction and sowing certificates issued under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and all other official records, wherever possible, shall be digitally signed by all the officials concerned either using Digital Signature Tokens or e-sign obtained from licensed vendors of the Ministry of Information and Technology, New Delhi and in such cases, physical signature of the officials shall be dispensed.

6. The registering authorities or any official designated by him/her shall be the Competent Authority to edit the data related to farmers' registration or crop survey, either partially or fully, on requests, either written request or e-mail from the Agricultural Officer concerned.

7. The data aggregated in the designated portal shall serve as a source of data for the services of other line Departments/Agencies/Institutions like Banks, but, they shall independently ascertain the data to be used as deemed fit and the beneficiaries concerned shall be bound by the instructions of such Departments/Agencies.

8. These guidelines shall be read along with the essential qualifications prescribed independently for each Scheme and it shall not be in contravention of the broad Guidelines issued herein.

9. The instant notification shall take precedence over the Guidelines notified for the Smart Farmers Identity Card vide G.O. Ms. No. 14/Ag., dated 24-08-2017 by the Chief Secretariat (Agriculture), Puducherry.

10. The Guidelines in respect of the ownership of land prescribed herein for availing any financial assistance shall take precedence over all other Guidelines issued for eligibility towards disbursement of financial assistance under various Schemes under State Plan.

11. The Secretary to Government (Agriculture), Puducherry, shall be the Competent Authority to issue any further instruction, read with this Notification for better operation of the Scheme in consonance with the broad Guidelines of Government of India and address any issues arising upon the implementation, in consultation with the stakeholders concerned and the directions issued shall be binding on all concerned.

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