Bihar, with the help of modern technology, scientific methods and high quality inputs can easily double the agricultural production and enrich the quality of life in rural areas. However, the major challenge is the inadequacy of farm power and machinery with the farmers for increasing agricultural productivity. In recent times, the use of farm machinery, has slowly made its way in the state under the central and state government initiatives Medium and large scale farmers are encouraged with govt. subsidies to buy advanced, medium and high capacity machinery such as tractor, power tiller, rotavator, combine harvester etc. Making use of ICT, the Govt. of Bihar initiated subsidy distribution through a common platform called OFMAS.
OFMAS facilitates farmers, dealers and manufacturers to sell and purchase farm implements in a transparent and cost effective manner.
OFMAS is a role-based and workflow based online web application (http://krishi.bih.nic.in). The application offers various G2G, G2B and G2C services.
Government officials can use the application for monitoring the entire process at various levels. Dealers can use the system to easily approach the farmers for selling their products while farmers can apply online for availing subsidy on farm machinery. Built-in SMS features are available to provide timely alerts at various stages of processing of application. The software is developed in ASP.NET using C# with Microsoft SQL Server database. The software is security audited. The various roles defined in the application are:
a. Agriculture Coordinator b. Block Agriculture Officer c. District Agriculture Officer d. Director Agriculture & e. Dealer
CHALLENGES BEFORE IMPLEMENTATION OF OFMAS yyThe department was unsure of receiving online applications from remote districts/blocks of the state. yyMaintaining applications and various records was very cumbersome at the block and district level. yySelection and distribution of subsidy was not transparent and complaints were received at various stages regarding malpractices. yySame machines were sold more than once to corner subsidy. yyOld machineries were shown as the new ones. yyMiddlemen use to corner the Govt. subsidy from gullible farmers. yyImproper verification and tests of farm machinery sold to the farmers yyLack of monitoring mechanisms at block, district and state level
SALIENT FEATURES & FUNCTIONALITY OF OFMAS yyOnline Dealer Registration yyCategory wise target distribution at four levels (State/District/Block/GP) yyMaintaining category and implementation wise pattern of subsidy assistance at state level yyFarmers can apply online for purchasing approved implements from anywhere yySMS alerts to various stakeholders yyVerification of genuineness of the farmer by the officials at Panchayat, block and district level yyThe software incorporates FIFO at all stages of the application flow yyGeneration of permits at Block and District level yyPurchase and physical verification of the implements by the Agriculture Coordinator yyUploading of the documents by Dealer and AC yyApproval and distribution of subsidy by the DAO yyTracking of application and status update at various levels yyM&E at various stages to keep track of the applications yyTransparency at all levels yyOnline Grievance Monitoring System yyMaintains user logs yyKeeps a check on machines having duplicate engine no./ machine no.
The software has incorporated various ongoing schemes under the Central and State Governments. The schemes are RKVY, NFSM, NMOOP, BGREI, SMAM, State Plan and Anna Bhandaran Yojana.
STATISTICS More than three lakh online applications have been received so far and more than two lakh permits were issued in the financial year 2014-2015. The total subsidy distributed using the system stands at more than R 150 crores. Around 966 manufacturers having 4339 dealers have sold around 70 implements through OFMAS. More than 20 lakh SMS have been sent at various stages. Around 1200 departmental users are successfully using the software to sanction/approve the subsidy to the farmers.
IMPACT OFMAS has raised the expectations of farmers and officials at all levels. The timely and speedy distribution of subsidy in transparent manner has reinstated the faith of the farmers in the government system. Earlier many complaints were received at the district and state level like missing applications, non-distribution of subsidies, claiming subsidies without purchasing the farm machinery etc. OFMAS has opened the scope for computerization of subsidy distribution in many other areas of agriculture and allied services. OFMAS has benefited farmers in far off villages especially those who have taken interest to apply online for procuring the farm machinery. They have brought change in the rural areas by increasing the farm productivity.
For further information: PRAKASH RANJAN MAHANTA Principal Systems Analyst E-mail:prakash.mahanta@nic.in