“J form”

• Context: Punjab becomes the first state in the country to provide digitised “form J” in real time on the WhatsApp number of farmers from this Rabi procurement season.
• ‘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.
• This form is also an income proof for a farmer who sells his crop.
• Before digitisation of the J form, several arhtiyas kept these forms with themselves, because of which many farmers ended up having no record of their income after selling their crops.
• Thus, by getting digitised J form, farmers will now have a clear record of the crop sold and income received with respect to that.
• 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.
• If any farmer changes his/her WhatsApp number, then they can see the J forms in their digilocker, which are legally at par with original physical documents under Rule 9A of the Information Technology Rules, 2016.
• The ‘J form’ can be used for raising finance from financial institutions and also help farmers get admission for their wards in educational institutes abroad.

Source:

• Explained: What is the ‘J form’, and how will its digitisation help farmers in Punjab?
• Bhagwant Mann's government to provide digital J-forms to farmers across state from April 1

Image source:

• Digital empowerment of Punjab farmers: J-form in Digilocker would be treated as valid document