In Focus Podcast | Why are Haryana’s farmers resisting the new digital verification rules at mandis?

By the time farmers in Haryana were ready to head to the anaj mandis (grain markets) to sell their Rabi harvest, the rules of entry had been revised. The Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board’s March 28 directive introduced a new set of conditions for crop procurement — mandatory registration on the ‘Meri Fasal Mera Byora’ portal, Aadhaar-based biometric verification, and vehicle number registration via the e-Kharid app.

The State government says the measures are aimed at curbing fraud and improving transparency. Farmers see it as a bureaucratic maze that, whether by intent or effect, slows the procurement process to a point where the Minimum Support Price (MSP) becomes harder, and sometimes impossible, to claim.