Journalism of Courage
Soon, Licences for agricultural inputs will be issued online and the whole process could become digital. The Pune Agricultural Commissionerate has submitted a proposal in this regard to the state government.
“We want to make the process digital and hassle-free, right from the submitting the application to uploading the required documents,” said Vinodkumar Ingle, director (inputs and quality control). He added that the National Informatics Centre (NIC) will prepare the digital infrastructure for the process.
To ensure quality control and to prevent farmers being fleeced, sale of agri inputs such as seed, fertilisers and insecticides requires a licence. The seed market is especially cornered by multinational corporations.
As of now, the process involves submitting various documents that are then scrutinised. Officially, a licence has to be issued within 30 days of the application. But as the process is manual, pendency is a major issue, as are allegations of corrupt practices. On an average, 2,000 to 2,500 licences are issued every year.
