Benefits Program Enrolls Indian Farmers with Mantra’s Iris Recognition

The Government of India is using biometric tech to implement a new program that will provide monetary support to small farmers in the country. The program is called Pradhan Mantri Samman Nidhi Yojana (or PM-Kishan Yojana), and provides eligible farmers (those with less than two hectares of land) with 6,000 rupees every year.

To receive benefits, farmers will need to enroll in the Online Kishan Registration program, which requires a one-time password, an Aadhaar number, and/or biometric verification. The state of Bihar will specifically be using the MIS100 Iris scanner from Mantra Softech for the biometric component of that process.

Once that registration is complete, farmers will receive three annual installments of 2,000 rupees, which will be deposited in their bank accounts as Direct Benefit Transfers. The online portal will also help farmers sell their crops and purchase farm equipment.

Mantra Softech is an Indian biometrics company that provides a range of Aadhaar-certified solutions. It is the only supplier of iris recognition tech for the PM-Kishan Yojana program in Bihar, although it is not the only manufacturer of Aadhaar-grade iris recognition tech, with companies like Iris ID continuing to be active players in the Indian biometrics market.

This is not the first time the Indian government has used biometric tech to verify the identities of farmers. NEXT fingerprint readers were previously used to allocate benefits to those participating in a climate-resilient agriculture project in the state of Maharashtra.

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May 6, 2019 – by Eric Weiss