Digital Form J

In News 

• The Punjab Mandi Board has decided to send a ‘digital form J’ on the WhatsApp number of farmers from this Rabi procurement season. 

What is the ‘J form’ ?

• ‘J form’ is the sale receipt of a farmer’s agricultural produce in mandis (grain market). 
• These forms were earlier issued manually by arthiyas (commission agents) because in Punjab, a majority of farmers sell their crops through such agents only. 
  • Several arthiyas had the habit of keeping these forms with themselves, instead of providing it to the farmers, which was their right. 
  • But by getting digitised J form, farmers will now have a clear record of the crop sold and income received in lieu of that and it will save their time as well, ensuring that they do not need to run to arthiyas to get copies of their sale. 
• These forms will be delivered directly on a farmer’s WhatsApp number immediately after a sale is confirmed on the system by the arthiyas and buyers, who are mainly government procurement agencies
• Benefits for Farmers:
  • The move, aimed at bringing transparency as well as empowering farmers, will make Punjab the first state in the country to provide digitised form J in real-time.
  • The move is expected to benefit around 9 lakh registered farmers who will be looking to sell their crop (wheat) at MSP during this procurement season. 

• The ‘J form’ can be used for raising finance from financial institutions, IT waivers, subsidy claims, and farmer’s insurance. 
• It can also help farmers get admission for their wards in educational institutes abroad.

• How will the government benefit?
  • The government will have a proper record of the land under cultivation for both the wheat and paddy crops in the state as well as an idea of their average per acre yield. 
  • People who are doing sales/purchases in the mandis for the other crops can be asked to log their purchases through the J form to have the accuracy of total land and production.
  • The system can to a large extent check the sale of crops from other states in the mandis of Punjab. 
  • The J forms will ensure that the government has an idea of the total land under cultivation and total yield. 
  • In case of unusual procurements, the government will be able to identify accounts from which the fraudulent transaction was made.

Source:IE