India on 'brink' of techno-institutional revolution: Ahluwalia

India is on the "brink" of a techno- institutional revolution and integration of mobile apps, broadband connectivity and new banking systems will act as a big "differentiator" for the rural economy, especially for small farmers, renowned economist Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.
"In India, we are on the brink of a major techno- institutional revolution, where a number of things are coming together - mobile phones, telecom and broadband interconnectivity to get into enough areas, regulatory changes being made in the banking system that allow a lot of news forms of banking to flourish," Ahluwalia, the former deputy chairman of the erstwhile Planning Commission, told PTI here.

Calling technology a big "differentiator", he said, "four to five different things have come together. One is the technology of mobile phone, second is the regulatory changes in banking system, making it possible for banks to perform all these things, third is UIDAI and the fourth is DigiLocker."
A key initiative under 'Digital India', DigiLocker is a platform for issuance and verification of digital documents and certificates, thus eliminating the use of physical documents. It enables one to put all documents online and use an electronically certified version of the document in their applications.
DigiLocker was recently integrated with UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India), as a registered issuer.

Elaborating on the how the exploitation of middlemen could be reduced, Ahluwalia said that the reason why middlemen are playing an important role in the rural sector is "because middleman is the person who is your moneylender".

"If he lends you money and you have to repay him then he has a big control over you. But if you are getting money through a banking system directly then you are not dependent on middlemen," he said.
He was speaking on the sidelines of a three-day conference on 'Investing in inclusive rural transformation: Innovative approaches to financing' in Rome, organised by the International Fund for Agricultural Development, a specialised agency of the UN dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries.

Echoing his views, Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shobhan Pattanayak said that through mobile phones the farmers can access finance and also a large number of apps to get all the informations without the involvement of middlemen.
Pattanayak called small farmers the "backbone" of food
production and said the "trinity" of UIDAI, mobile phones and bank accounts is a very "powerful" tool available to them.
"It is like a swiss knife. Through this tool you can get advisories, check market rates. It is a huge tool," he said.
He said that the government has launched apps to give more information to farmers about crops, suitable climate conditions for cultivating a crop among others.

"We also have large number of apps which can be accessed by farmers which will provide all the information about crops. There is an app where the package of practice and the cultivation requirement are made available to farmers. This app is available through the KVK (Krishi Vigyan Kendra) and basically transfers knowledge to farmers about what chemical he should use, at what interval it should be used," he added.
Pattanayak talked about another app called 'Kisan Suvidha', which gives market information in a 100-kilometre radius.
Through these apps, the weather information is made available, the list of suppliers is displayed and farmers can make use of it in directly getting information without the involvement of middlemen, the official said.

Expressing confidence in the future of India, Pattnayak said India is "miles" ahead of others in technology.
"We are using space technology for monitoring floods, drought. We get periodic reports and farmers are warned about it through SMS and Kissan channels. We also make a contingency plan, in case your crop fails, then what is the other crop which you can grow which requires less moisture. We prepare a contingency plan for each district for the entire country but mostly for the vulnerable districts," he added.
"We have identified 150 vulnerable district and we closely monitor weather situation of these areas and farmers are regularly informed of the situation," Pattnayak said.

Talking about the insurance policy given to the farmers, Pattnayak said that 3.7 crore farmers have been brought under the coverage and the government aims to bring 50 per cent of the farmer population insured under the crop insurance policy.
"And farmers are going to accept the insurance as it is user-friendly, needs a small premium and they get fully insured. So I am sure it is going to change the landscape of agriculture," he said.
The 'Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana' was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February last year. It envisages a uniform premium of only 2 per cent to be paid by farmers for Kharif crops, and 1.5 per cent for Rabi crops. The premium for annual commercial and horticultural crops will be 5 per cent.

This scheme is dedicated to bring in more than 50 per cent farmers under its wing within the next 2-3 years.