Dr. Parveen Kumar
Consequent to the announcement made by Finance Minister of the country Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman regarding launch of Bharat-VISTAAR (Virtually Integrated System to Access Agricultural Resources); Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India on Tuesday launched the Bharat-VISTAAR from Jaipur along with Mr. Bhajan Lal Chief minister of Rajasthan. Sitharaman while presenting her 9th budget on first Sunday of February this year had announced for a multilingual Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool that shall integrate the Agri-Stack portals and the ICAR package on agricultural practices with AI systems. The minister had also allocated a sum of rupees 150 crore for the Bharat-VISTAAR for the next financial year (2026-27). Bharat-VISTAAR will be available 24 hours a day as a ‘digital agriculture expert’ in two ways, and the talking AI assistant inside Bharat-VISTAAR has been named as Bharati. Farmers can also access Bharati by dialing 155261.
Let me deliberate upon what Bharat-VISTAAR means and what implications it has for Indian agriculture. Agriculture in India is the backbone of its economy. There are many issues confronting the farming community engaged in agriculture and allied sectors. The solution to many of these problems especially increasing timeliness, efficiency and precision of farming operations lies in use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). ICTs work best when they are backed by effective and relevant data. The government is also now promoting data based policies and programmes through digitization of agriculture in order to address many issues of farming. The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India is already working on an innovative solution to the problems of the farming community based on the data of the farming community through ‘Agri-stacking’. An ‘Agri-Stack’ refers to a collection of technology based interventions in agriculture on which everything else is built. Agri-Stack may have a Farmers’ Stack. A Farm Stack and a Crop Stack integrated on a technology platform linking existing digital land records, cadastral maps of farm and information. Farm stack would have geospatial information on each farm, owned by a farmer and Crop Stack can contain crop data linked to farms. The government will provide ‘required data sets’ of farmers’ personal information to Microsoft to develop a farmer interface Unified Farmers Service Platform (UFSP) for ‘smart and well-organized agriculture’. At the core of agri-stacks will be land records. The new initiative of creating UFSP would bring a paradigm change in accessing the data relating to farmers and can be used to develop customized solutions, make better plans and monitor their implementation. The Unified Farmers Service Interface/Agri-stack will have a data exchange which would bring in all data related to agriculture sector in a federated platform with the federated farmers’ database as its core. The database is envisaged to facilitate online single sign on facilities for universal access and usher in personalized services to farmers such as direct benefit transfer, soil and plant health advisories, weather advisories, irrigation facilities, and seamless credit and insurance facilities. It will also provide information pertaining to seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, nearby logistic facilities, market access information and peer to peer lending of farm equipment, among others. There is also a provision of unique farmer ID (FID) to uniquely identify a farmer and to know benefits availed by a farmer under various schemes. UFSP is a combination of core infrastructure, data, applications and tools that enable seamless interoperability of various public and private IT systems in the agriculture ecosystem across the country. It is envisaged to act as a central agency in the agri ecosystem like UPI in the e Payments, enables registration of the service providers and of the Farmer Services Government to farmers (G2F), Government to Business (G2B), Business to Farmer (B2F) and Business to Business (B2B) and it shall also act as a medium of data exchange amongst various schemes and services to enable comprehensive delivery of services to the farmer. The integration of Agri-stack portals and ICARs Package of Practices for different crops with Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems will enhance farm productivity, enable better decisions for farmers and reduce risk by providing customized advisory support.
Bharat-VISTAAR as an AI-powered multilingual tool is designed to provide information to farmers’ in their own language via mobile or a simple phone call on 155261. The tool will offer guidance on crop planning, packages of practices and pests, weather forecasts, markets, scheme information, eligibility, application, and grievance in their own language. Now, after the launch of Bharat-VISTAAR, farmers can get information about 10 major Central schemes, including PM-KISAN, PM Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), Soil Health Card (SHC), Modified Interest Subvention Scheme, Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization, Per Drop More Crop (PDMC), PM Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY), PM Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA), Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) and Kisan Credit Card (KCC). Besides, they can receive alerts on weather and pests. The first version of Bharat VISTAAR will be launched in Hindi and English and gradually become capable of responding in regional languages.
Moreover two way communications in it wherein feedback flows back into government system will definitely help in evidence based policy making and prioritization of research and extension needs. It has been described not only an app, but a National Digital Backbone uniting Central and State systems, while preserving state autonomy. Bharat-VISTAAR will evolve through collaboration with not-for-profit organizations, AI startups, technology firms and AI Centres of Excellence. It aims to take Indian agriculture beyond fragmented digitization and toward institutionalized decision intelligence that converts data into timely, actionable choices at scale. The distinction is also n the purpose. The emphasis is not on expanding access to information, but on embedding intelligence into day to day execution. By integrating soil intelligence, weather data, crop science, and agronomic protocols into localized, real-time guidance, Bharat-VISTAAR signals a decisive shift from reactive practices to predictive, precision-led agriculture. Farmer does not have to depend on different websites, apps or middlemen for all such information. They can simply get it by dialing 155261 or downloading app. from Google play store.
(The author writes on agriculture and social issues)
