A high-level review meeting on the progress of the 'AgriStack' project was held today under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary of Bihar, Mr. Pratyaya Amrit. During the meeting, the ongoing work and achievements under AgriStack were discussed in detail through a comprehensive presentation.

It was informed during the meeting that farmer registration will be conducted in mission mode across the state from February 2nd to February 6th, to connect as many farmers as possible to this system.

Addressing all the District Magistrates of the state who joined via video conferencing, the Chief Secretary said that we must work keeping the state's interest paramount. He directed that the work on AgriStack be expedited so that we can enter the second phase of the project as soon as possible. He said that districts that achieve the target of 50% registration of farmers benefiting from the PM Kisan Yojana will be rewarded with an amount of Rs. 1.5 lakh by the government. Districts for which a target of 35% registration has been set will receive an incentive of Rs. 50,000 upon achieving this target.

The Chief Secretary clearly instructed that no fee will be charged from farmers for farmer registration. He said that the service charge of Rs. 15 previously levied through Common Service Centers (CSCs) and Vasudha Kendras will no longer be charged. This cost will be borne by the concerned department, directly benefiting the farmers. The Chief Secretary instructed the District Magistrates of all districts to ensure that the farmer registry is completed for at least 50 percent of the beneficiary farmers under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana within the stipulated timeframe. He also stated that in districts where the progress of the farmer registry is satisfactory, additional efforts should be made to further improve performance.

During the meeting, Principal Secretary of the Agriculture Department, Mr. Narmadeshwar Lal, informed that all District Magistrates in the state must compulsorily create a Farmer ID for every landowning farmer. He said that this initiative is a crucial step towards providing farmers with the benefits of various government schemes in a transparent, easy, and timely manner.

At a workshop organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, in New Delhi on January 28, the work on the farmer registry being conducted by the Government of Bihar under the leadership of the Chief Secretary was highly appreciated. During the workshop, this effective and well-organized work being carried out in mission mode in Bihar was presented as a model for other states to adopt.

The Chief Secretary specifically commended and congratulated the top-performing districts. These districts include:

* Vaishali

* Shivhar

* Begusarai

* Buxar

* Sheikhpura

* Katihar

Senior officials from the concerned departments were present at the meeting.