Agri Welfare Portal Launched by Shivraj Singh Chouhan

Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Rural Development Shivraj Singh Chouhan formally launched the revamped Agri Welfare Portal for farmers on the Navami day of Navratri. The platform is meant to carry information about government schemes, financial support and dependable farming advice straight to a farmer's mobile phone, without trips to offices and without middlemen in between.

What the portal does

Every scheme, subsidy, rule and digital service of the ministry now sits at one address, so a farmer no longer has to move between separate offices and websites to read about a scheme or to apply for one. Eligibility can be checked online, applications can be filed directly, and assistance reaches the beneficiary through direct benefit transfer, which the minister said would make the process transparent and end the role of intermediaries. The portal also acts as a common gateway for major initiatives such as PM-KISAN, AgriStack and the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.

Built light, built accessible

The portal has been developed in line with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology's DBIM 3.0 and GIGW 3.0 standards, which makes it secure, mobile friendly and usable by persons with disabilities. It has been kept deliberately light so that it opens quickly on an ordinary smartphone and on a weak rural network, and visually impaired users can work through it with a screen reader and simple navigation. Alongside scheme information, farmers get authentic updates on the weather, new scientific methods of cultivation, the availability of seed and fertiliser, and prices in the mandis.

Beyond individual farmers

The minister said the platform would not stop at individual farmers: it will also bring together farmer producer organisations, primary agricultural credit societies, agricultural scientists, researchers and start-ups on one network. He told officials that the portal's success would rest on correct and timely information, warning that stale or incomplete entries erode trust, and asked that the language and the steps be kept simple enough for small and marginal farmers with little schooling to use on their own. A dedicated training drive will be run through the Krishi Vigyan Kendras across the country to make farmers comfortable with the portal and other digital tools.

Who was present

Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Secretary Atish Chandra and Additional Secretary Pramod Mehrda attended the launch, along with the ministry's digital agriculture division and senior officers of the ministry and the National Informatics Centre.