Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday assured that farmers’ data are fully secure with states, and the government has taken various measures to prevent its misuse.
During Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, the minister asserted that digital data will enable farmers to take advantage of various programmes run by the government and also access services offered under many schemes.
“I want to assure House and farmers, these data will be only used for taking benefits of various programmes, accessing services. This will help in curbing corruption and frauds,” Chouhan said, adding this will also help in settlement of claims under crop insurance schemes. He said farmers’ data cannot be shared without their consent.
Chouhan asserted that the Modi government is committed to providing relief to farmers and has launched many programmes since 2014 to boost their income.
He said farmers get `6,000 annually under PM-KISAN scheme. That apart, the minister said the government has enhanced annual agriculture credit target to `25 lakh, hiked minimum support price (MSP) significantly and also procured record foodgrains.
He stated that export-import policies are there to protect farmers’ interest. On DMK’s allegation that the Centre was not fulfilling promises made to Tamil Nadu farmers, Chouhan said the Modi government fulfils all poll—promises, unlike many opposition parties.
He said voters will punish them in elections. In a written submission, Chouhan said, “State Farmer Registry, a component of AgriStack, is built in a federated architecture. Thus, the ownership of the data is with the respective states.”
The Union agriculture ministry has developed the AgriStack in accordance with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and other IT laws of the country, he added.
“AgriStack ensures complete privacy of farmers’ data by ensuring that farmers’ data is collected only with their consent. Farmers have full control over their data, which is only shared with authorised entities based on their consent for a specific purpose,” Chouhan said.
The Centre also ensures robust data security in AgriStack, which is fully compliant with the cyber security guidelines of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In).
“AgriStack sends farmers’ information in an encrypted manner so that only the designated system can read it. Secure APIs and token-based authentication govern all data exchanges, ensuring controlled access to data. In addition, the government conducts security audits of all these IT systems and monitors risks,” the minister said.
Although internet penetration has increased in rural areas, additional steps have been taken to ensure digital inclusion of farmers who do not have mobile phones, they can use existing support structures like Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), Krishi Sakhis, and Common Service Centres (CSCs), to get them registered on AgriStack and access services and benefits.
Further, states are organising the camps so that no farmer is left out from getting the benefits of AgriStack.
The government is providing administrative and technical support to all states for the implementation of AgriStack. Chouhan said the Farmer Registry has been envisaged as a dynamic, accurate, verified and approved database of farmers created and managed by states or Union Territories.
“It provides for comprehensive and useful data on farmers comprising authenticated demographic details, land holdings, family details, crops sown, soil health, livestock owned, fishery assets owned and other vocations,” he said.
