Patna. The Farmer ID campaign, launched with the aim of providing a unified identity for the state's farmers, has yet to gain the desired momentum. A significant gap is emerging between government claims and ground reality. The situation is such that millions of farmers in Bihar are still excluded from Farmer ID, including those who have been benefiting from various government schemes for years.Statistics highlight the severity of this situation. Over 9 million farmers are believed to be registered in Bihar, but only about 10.46 lakh have been able to obtain Farmer IDs so far.At the same time, out of more than 75 lakh farmers associated with the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, the farmer ID of about 65 lakh farmers has not been made yet.This clearly shows that the number of beneficiaries is large, but their access to the new mandatory identification system is very limited.The Revenue and Land Reforms Department recently claimed a surge in Farmer ID creation. According to the department, 1.86 lakh Farmer IDs were created in a single day on January 9th.However, looking at the overall figures, this pace does not seem sustainable and the campaign is still not reaching farmers on a large scale.The slow progress of Farmer ID is due to several practical issues. The biggest challenge is the complexity of the online process. A large number of farmers are still unfamiliar with the digital system.Additionally, land record errors are posing a serious obstacle for farmers. In many cases, accounts and records are not updated, names and documents are misspelled, and in cases of ancestral land, old documents and online registers are not matching.Furthermore, there is a clear lack of awareness about Farmer ID in villages. Farmers are unclear about why this ID is necessary and what benefits it will provide them.Crowds, limited staff, and technical glitches at Common Service Centers (CSCs) are exacerbating the problem. Landless and sharecroppers are the most marginalized in this system.The government has clarified that in the future, benefits from all central and state agricultural schemes will be linked to Farmer IDs. Therefore, farmers who remain excluded from this process will be at increased risk of losing government assistance.Agricultural experts believe that unless emphasis is laid on offline options, camp-based registration at the village level and land record correction, the Farmer ID campaign will not be able to achieve its goals.Otherwise, this scheme brought for the welfare of farmers may become a new problem for them.
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