MANGALDAI, June 27 - The land of historic farmers� uprising of Patharughat in Darrang district has once again created history in the field of agriculture when the district has launched facility to purchase IFFCO fertilisers by the village farmers with the help digital marketing in a transparent, hassle-free manner through different Common Services Centre (CSC) functional in different rural areas of the district.
The innovative scheme, introduced for the first time in India, was recently launched ceremonially by Deputy Commissioner of Darrang Ashok Kr Barman in a public function organised at the Assam Club auditorium, Kharupetia, by the Darrang district administration in collaboration with the Darrang CSC authority.
In his inaugural speech, Deputy Commissioner Barman outlined this unique project as the result of the Prime Minister�s Digital India campaign of expanding and outsourcing the large number of public utility services through the grassroot CSCs and Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLE) and urged upon the local farmers, particularly of Kharupetia, which is known as the Northeast hub of vegetable farming.
He also appealed to the farmers to avail the opportunity of the new project and urged them to use chemical fertilisers in a judicious manner.
Earlier, while explaining the objectives of the project, Pankaj Chakravorty, Additional Deputy Commissioner in charge of IT and District e-Governance, Darrang, underlined how the project is first-of-its-kind in the country and how its proper implementation can bring a sea-change among the farmers� community of Kharupetia in particular and Darrang in general through reducing the alleged practice of black marketing and middle-man culture in the existing fertiliser marketing system and improve the mechanism for the benefits of the progressive farmers.
He also highlighted various online services of like medical consultancy, consultancy over animal husbandry, insurance, etc., which can be easily availed through the nearby CSCs. The inaugural ceremony ended with a vote of thanks by Janjashri Sarkar, in charge of Digital Literacy Cell, Darrang.
The meeting was also addressed by Yuvaraj Borthakur, Revenue Circle Officer, Dalgaon; Nila Kanta Deka, District Agriculture Officer, Darrang; Jnan Doley, Head of CSC, Northeast; Islamuddin Ahmed, BDO of Besimari; and Deborshi Bag, Marketing Head of North East, among others. The function was also attended by around 3,000 farmers, VLEs and village heads.
