On June 23, 2023, the Union Agricultural Ministry launched the PM-Kisan Mobile Application with a face authentication feature to complete the e-KYC. The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) was initially implemented as the Rythu Bandhu scheme by the Telangana Government in 2017. Under this model, farmers were supported with Rs 4,000 for every acre of their land. The beneficiary received the “investment support” amount before every crop season. The underlying objective was to help the farmer meet a major chunk of his expenses on seed, fertiliser, pesticide, and field preparation. The Central Government adopted the scheme on February 1, 2019, by the then Minister of Finance, Piyush Goyal, who announced the nationwide implementation of the scheme during the 2019 Interim Union Budget.
As per the scheme, all small and marginal farmers would get income assistance of INR 6,000 annually in three equal instalments, which would be transferred directly into their bank accounts. The Union Government would fund the whole yearly cost of this plan, which was anticipated to be INR 750000 million
Consequently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the PM-Kisan scheme on February 24, 2019, in the Gorakhpur region of Uttar Pradesh under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. As per the scheme, all small and marginal farmers would get income assistance of INR 6,000 annually in three equal instalments, which would be transferred directly into their bank accounts. The Union Government would fund the whole yearly cost of this plan, which was anticipated to be INR 750000 million. Beneficiaries of the PM-Kisan programme have already undergone e-KYC using either biometrics at a designated location or one-time passwords delivered to mobile phone numbers associated with Aadhaar. However, officials discovered several instances during the e-KYC operation when farmers’ cell phones were not connected to Aadhaar, preventing the procedure from being finished. For biometrics, several elderly farmers had trouble getting to the nearest facility. Additionally, many people experienced fingerprint mismatches. To overcome this fallacy, the Ministry introduced a face authentication feature using the iris data of a person having an Aadhaar number. Further development announced by the government is the integration of PM-Kisan with the Bhashini portal, which would facilitate farmers’ information in their native language. On launch, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar commented, “PM-Kisan is an innovative scheme whose benefits are being given by the central government to the farmers without any middlemen.” In his address to the 17th Indian Cooperative Congress in New Delhi on July 1, 2023, Prime Minister Modi referred to the direct transfer of Rs. 2.5 lakh crore into the bank accounts of farmers under the PM-KISAN scheme. Additionally, he highlighted the dominance and increased frequency of the country in digital transactions, claiming it to be India’s “new identity”.
Digital India, e-Governance and PM Kisan: Converging Analysis
Launched on July 3, 2015, the vision behind adopting the Digital India scheme was to transform, enable and empower the society and economy of the country by infusing digital technologies in the public sphere. The initiative includes building high-speed internet networks in rural areas. There are two primary domains of focus under the Digital India scheme. Firstly, it pivots to help deliver real-time services to citizens on online platforms, digitally enable business processes, create a cashless economy, and develop a cloud-based repository for easy access for citizens.
There are two primary domains of focus under the Digital India scheme. Firstly, it pivots to help deliver real-time services to citizens on online platforms, digitally enable business processes, create a cashless economy, and develop a cloud-based repository for easy access for citizens.
It aims to digitally empower citizens by introducing collaborative digital platforms, making all documents and certificates available online, making all entitlements available through the cloud, and providing universally accessible digital resources and services in multiple Indian languages. The government has ventured into initiatives like DigiLocker, e-Pathshala, BHIM, etc. under Digital India. Indian-origin software engineers in Silicon Valley have been a central part of the internet revolution globally. However, back home, digital assistance took much longer to revolutionise the economy and governance. Launching Digital India and low-cost 4G helped everyone in the ecosystem realise the true potential of the Internet. Digitising the urban space has been less daunting than the rural sphere.
The challenges in the rural landscape range from lack of infrastructure and digital illiteracy to administrative roadblocks and cybercrime. However, as per Nielsen’s India Internet Report 2023, rural India accounted for 425 million users, approximately 44 percent higher than the number of active internet users in urban areas, with 295 million users.
One of the key pillars of the Digital India initiative aims to accelerate e-governance across the country. The running definition of e-Governance is the application of Information and Communication Technologies “to raise the quality of the services governments deliver to citizens and businesses. It is hoped that it will also reinforce the connection between public officials and communities, thereby leading to a stronger, more accountable, and inclusive democracy.” The primary objective of e-governance is to create higher transparency and accountability while addressing the needs of society using Information and Communication Technologies.
The government has been trying to digitise and provide good governance in the agricultural sector. Among other technical advancements, the Internet of things and artificial intelligence are transforming the nation’s agriculture industry. Some examples include improved practices and tools like precision farming, agricultural drones and hopping systems, livestock monitoring, temperature monitoring, smart greenhouses, and computer imagery based on AI and IoT. The PM-Kisan Scheme is one of the pioneering examples of using digital public goods to benefit farmers. With the digitisation of the scheme, the government and farmers alike have benefited in significant ways. The government has started taking action to create a digital ecosystem called “Agri stack” for agriculture to take advantage of the considerable usage of digital technology in PM KISAN’s implementation. Building the Agri stack allows the government to enrol all qualified farmers in the PM KISAN programme and re-verify the eligibility of all current beneficiaries per the program’s operating rules. To achieve a seamless dynamic linkage with the digital land records of the States in the future, the land details of the present beneficiaries are seeded in accordance with the land records of the States.
The PM-Kisan Scheme is one of the pioneering examples of using digital public goods to benefit farmers. With the digitisation of the scheme, the government and farmers alike have benefited in significant ways. The government has started taking action to create a digital ecosystem called “Agri stack” for agriculture to take advantage of the considerable usage of digital technology in PM KISAN’s implementation
Mapping the Challenges of the PM KISAN Scheme
Irrespective of the grand vision of digitising the rural agricultural space with the introduction of policies like PM-Kisan, with its neoteric and notable facial recognition feature, some challenges have been affiliated with it since its inception. First and foremost, there is a lack of awareness about the scheme’s status among farmers, predominantly those residing in remote areas. Many farmers lose out on the government’s financial help because they are unaware, they are qualified for the program’s advantages. The scheme has failed to reach its full potential owing to administrative gaps like delays in releasing funds and identifying beneficiaries. Fraudulent activities, including issuing faulty documents, duplicate entries, and abusing Adhaar card numbers available in open-source platforms, have led to the unlawful transfer of millions of rupees into the accounts of ineligible individuals. The lack of awareness and sporadic distribution of high-speed internet hotspots in rural areas remains a central challenge. With the introduction of the face recognition feature, new challenges predicted to emerge would be a lack of proper network and legal framework. With the government implementing schemes and technological facilities to foster e-governance, high-speed internet in rural areas is only a matter of time. However, the legislative aspects remain unevaluated.
The scheme has failed to reach its full potential owing to administrative gaps like delays in releasing funds and identifying beneficiaries. Fraudulent activities, including issuing faulty documents, duplicate entries, and abusing Adhaar card numbers available in open-source platforms, have led to the unlawful transfer of millions of rupees into the accounts of ineligible individuals. The lack of awareness and sporadic distribution of high-speed internet hotspots in rural areas remains a central challenge
Facial Recognition System: An Overview
A face recognition system (FRS) may automatically recognise or confirm a person using a digital picture or video frame from a multimedia source. The FRS receives a face picture or sequence as input and then performs suggested algorithms to compare the input with face images in the database. It serves two main purposes:
- Verification (one-to-one matching): When a face image of an unknown person and a claim of identification are supplied, determining whether the person is who they say they are.
- Identification (one-to-many matching): Given an image of an ambiguous person, identifying that person by comparing (perhaps after encoding) that image with a database of (potentially encoded) photos of recognisable people.
Face recognition may be used for these two goals in a wide variety of application domains:
- Security, including email authentication on multimedia workstations, computer/network security, access control to buildings, airports/seaports, ATMs, and border checks.
- Surveillance as being performed by governments in China, Israel, and so on.
- Identity checks for election registration, banking, online shopping, identifying births, national IDs, passports, licences, and employee IDs.
- Criminal justice systems, including post-event analysis, forensics, and mugshot/booking systems.
- Image database investigations for looking up photos of arrested people, welfare recipients, missing children, immigrants, and licensed drivers in the image database.
Initiation of Facial Recognition System: Technological and Legal Concerns
The PM-Kisan scheme qualifies as the first welfare scheme within India that uses digital technology for its implementation. Facial recognition technology features a list of technical, legal, regulatory and policy issues. The Indian government, implementing one of the largest automatic facial recognition systems globally, has traditionally faced technical issues with the technology. The system has failed to identify women and darker-skinned persons accurately. This might resurface as a challenge to the government in the coming time with respect to PM Kisan.
The Indian government, implementing one of the largest automatic facial recognition systems globally, has traditionally faced technical issues with the technology. The system has failed to identify women and darker-skinned persons accurately
Collecting, storing, and using personal data, including facial pictures, without the explicit consent of the persons in question are one of the main legal issues faced by face recognition technology. Such technologies have not been explicitly acknowledged by legislation. As a result, comprehensive legislative frameworks that the Indian Parliament has approved are required to establish and maintain such automatic face recognition technology.
Currently, there is no explicit law in India that permits the use of these technologies. Facial recognition is not mentioned at all in the Indian Information Technology Act 2000, which is the country’s primary law concerning the electronic domain. Additionally, facial recognition is not mentioned in the approved Information Technology Act of 2000 guidelines. As a result, the Parliament must enact a solid law to allow for the legal application of these technologies and ensure their long-term deployment. Face recognition technology tends to infringe on people’s basic right to privacy, protected by Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, constitutes one of the central problems with the technology.
According to the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India’s ruling in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2018), the right to privacy has already been deemed a basic freedom that may only be exercised in line with the legal process. Any deployment or use of such technology would breach a person’s basic right to privacy if no legal mechanism had been created. As it implements new technology, the Government must explicitly consider certain dimensions and aspects.
According to the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India’s ruling in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2018), the right to privacy has already been deemed a basic freedom that may only be exercised in line with the legal process. Any deployment or use of such technology would breach a person’s basic right to privacy if no legal mechanism had been created
The use of facial recognition technology has essential elements related to cyber security. Large data sets, including personally identifiable information, will be produced when automated facial recognition systems are used. To safeguard people’s rights and liberties, it is important to ensure that such data is safeguarded from internal and external threats. The amplified age of information and technology has added another dimension to warfare – Cyberspace. Responsible and belligerent nations have increasingly practised cyber warfare to infringe on data clouds for strategic and military purposes.
Conclusion
There has been abundant development in digitising India; however, it still suffers from a dearth of bonafide frameworks, which threatens to overlook the challenges, shortcomings and vulnerabilities that take shape with it. The introduction of Facial Recognition in the implementation of the PM-Kisan scheme brings with it the advantage of utilising high-end technology towards enhancing the distribution and accessibility of government schemes for the masses and making governance smooth and efficient. These seemingly optimistic innovations are being perceived as strides in the current government’s broader push to realise India’s fully digitised governance system. However, these ambitions are plagued by inherent deficiencies in the nature and shape of past and ongoing technology implementations in India. Data security, cybercrimes, inequality in internet accessibility etc., remain key concerns in the discourse surrounding the digitisation of government schemes. It is also crucial that digitisation happens, not just as a top-down process but additionally enjoys wider acceptability and awareness among the masses. This is crucial for India, which has not yet reached optimistic levels of digital literacy, specifically in rural areas. The burden of resolving existing and potential lacunae is on the government, who would need to walk the talk in their aim of a ‘Digital India’.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Kumar, Deepak, and Sunil Phougat. “Status of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme.” Research Developments in Arts and Social Studies Vol. 1 (2022): 28-36.
- Kumar, Deepak, and Sunil Phougat. “Analysis of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) Scheme: With special reference to Haryana State.” Journal of Global Agriculture and Ecology 12, no. 2 (2021): 1-8.
- Varshney, Deepak, Pramod Kumar Joshi, Devesh Roy, and Anjani Kumar. “PM KISAN and the Adoption of Modern Agricultural Technologies.” Economic & Political Weekly 55, no. 23 (2020): 49.
- Nedungadi, Prema P., Rajani Menon, Georg Gutjahr, Lynnea Erickson, and Raghu Raman. “Towards an inclusive digital literacy framework for digital India.” Education+ Training 60, no. 6 (2018): 516-528.
- Muttoo, Sunil K., Rajan Gupta, Saibal K. Pal, and Sunil K. Muttoo. E-Governance in India. Springer Singapore, 2019.
- Sircar, Sushovan, “Modi’s 8 Years: ‘Digital India’, But at the Cost of Citizen’ Data & Privacy.” The Quint. June 04, 2022. https://www.thequint.com/opinion/digital-india-after-8-years-of-modi-government#read-more (June 30, 2023)
- Dhand, Anjali. “Digital India Scheme”. Scripbox. July 27, 2022. https://scripbox.com/saving-schemes/digital-india-scheme/#:~:text=The%20Digital%20India%20scheme%20is,every%20citizen%20of%20the%20country. (July 28, 2023)
- Subramaniam, Nikhil. “The Digital India Paradox.” Inc42. August 14, 2022.
https://inc42.com/features/the-digital-india-paradox/ (June 30, 2023). - Tyagi, Viraj. “India needs diversity, even in e-governance.” Deccan Herald. February 21, 2023. https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/panorama/india-needs-diversity-even-in-e-governance-1193619.html (June 30, 2023).
- Sharma, Harikishan. “Face authentication now in PM-Kisan mobile app, the first govt Govt schemes.” The Indian Express. June 23, 2023. https://indianexpress.com/article/india/face-authentification-now-in-pm-kisan-mobile-app-a-first-for-govt-schemes-8680980/ (June 28, 2023).
- Shivasundar. “PM-KISAN scheme or just an election scan?”. The News Minute. March 3, 2023. https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/pm-kisan-scheme-or-just-election-scam-174043 (June 28, 2023)
- Hussain, Siraj. “PM Kisan’s direct transfers can help food distribution. But there are four challenges.” The Print. October 25, 2022. https://theprint.in/opinion/pm-kisans-direct-transfers-can-help-food-distribution-but-there-are-four-challenges/1181421/ (June 30, 2023).
Simmi Bhandari is a Research Intern at CSPS
