The central government has now made it mandatory to provide an Aadhaar number in order to receive subsidies and other benefits under the Electronic National Agriculture Market (eNAM) scheme.
A notification regarding this was issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on Monday.
Aadhaar Required for Identity Verification
As per the new rule, farmers and other participants benefiting from the eNAM scheme will have to provide their Aadhaar number to verify their identity.
Those who don’t yet have an Aadhaar will need to enroll for it first in order to access any benefits under this digital agriculture platform.
What Is the eNAM Scheme?
The eNAM (Electronic National Agriculture Market) is a pan-India electronic trading platform for agricultural produce.
It was launched to bring India’s mandis (agricultural markets) into a digital system.
The goal is to help farmers get better prices, simplify the trading process, and increase transparency by reducing middlemen.
The government is now focused on making eNAM even stronger.
New features like Warehouse-Based Sales and the integration of Electronic National Warehousing Receipt (eNWR) will be introduced.
Also, efforts are being made to increase farmer participation through Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs).
Special Focus on FPOs
FPOs are given a key role under this scheme. Each mandi (agriculture market) can receive a grant of up to ₹75 lakh.
Out of this, ₹30 lakh is meant for buying computers, internet services, and testing tools.
The remaining ₹40 lakh will be used for setting up sorting, grading, and fertilizer units.
Why Aadhaar Is Now Compulsory
The main reason for making Aadhaar mandatory, according to the Ministry, is to ensure transparency, verify the authenticity of beneficiaries, and improve the overall efficiency of the scheme.
This move is aimed at stopping fraud and making sure that government benefits reach the right people.
Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique ID issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
It verifies a person’s identity using biometric and demographic data. Aadhaar is already linked to several other government welfare schemes.
By requiring Aadhaar, the government wants to strengthen the delivery of benefits in a more accurate and reliable manner under the eNAM scheme.
