Why in news?

A section of farmers in Haryana protested against the mandatory biometric verification for selling crops in mandis, blocking highways and alleging it creates harassment and procedural hurdles.

The state government, however, defended the move as a step to enhance transparency and accountability in the procurement system.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Mandi System in India
• Haryana’s Biometric Procurement System in Mandis
• Reason Behind Biometric Verification in Haryana Mandis
• Farmers’ Concerns Over Biometric Verification
• Government–Opposition Divide on Biometric Procurement

Mandi System in India

• The Mandi system is India's regulated agricultural marketplace framework where farmers bring their produce for sale through a structured auction process.
• These mandis (wholesale markets) are established under the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Acts enacted by individual state governments.
• The APMC Act designates specific geographical areas as market yards, and all agricultural trade within that area must compulsorily pass through the regulated mandi.
• Middlemen called arhatiyas (commission agents) facilitate transactions between farmers and buyers, charging a commission on every sale.
• Issues and Challenges 
  • Structural Problems
    • The mandi system has long been criticised for creating a monopoly of middlemen.
    • The middlemen often advance loans to farmers, creating a cycle of debt bondage where farmers are compelled to sell exclusively through their creditor-agent regardless of price.
  • Fragmented Market and Multiple Levies
    • India's mandi system is highly fragmented — a trader operating across states must obtain separate licences in each state and pay multiple layers of taxes including market fees, commission charges, and various local levies.
    • This fragmentation increases transaction costs and discourages private investment in agricultural marketing infrastructure.
  • Price Realisation Gap
    • Farmers typically receive only 30-40% of the final consumer price of their produce, with the remainder absorbed by the chain of intermediaries.
    • In the current setup, farmers are often price-takers rather than price-setters, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation especially during periods of surplus production.
  • Infrastructure Deficits
    • Many mandis suffer from inadequate storage, cold chain facilities, and processing infrastructure.
    • Poor road connectivity to mandis, lack of weighing equipment, and absence of grading and sorting facilities result in significant post-harvest losses.
  • Information Asymmetry
    • Farmers — particularly small and marginal ones — lack access to real-time price information, making them heavily dependent on the arhatiya for price discovery.
• Government Efforts at Reform and Integration
  • Electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) - Launched in April 2016, e-NAM is an online trading portal that networks existing APMC mandis across the country into a unified national market.
  • Model APMC Act, 2003 - The central government circulated a Model APMC Act encouraging states to amend their legislations to allow direct purchase from farmers, establishment of private markets, and promotion of contract farming.
    • However, adoption across states was uneven, with several states making only cosmetic changes.
  • Gramin Haats and Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) - The government has been upgrading 22,000 Gramin Haats (rural periodical markets) into Farmer-Consumer Markets to enable direct farm-to-consumer trade, bypassing intermediaries.
    • Simultaneously, PACS are being strengthened to provide collective bargaining power to small farmers.

Haryana’s Biometric Procurement System in Mandis

• Introduced in 2026, Haryana’s procurement system mandates Aadhaar-based fingerprint verification for farmers before selling crops in mandis, linked to the “Meri Fasal-Mera Byora” portal to ensure accurate registration and prevent discrepancies.
• The system also includes vehicle tracking, requiring tractor details and photos, and geofencing of procurement centres and storage points to enhance monitoring and prevent misuse.
• So far, hundreds of mandis and over a thousand storage locations have been brought under this digital oversight framework.

Reason Behind Biometric Verification in Haryana Mandis

• The biometric verification system was introduced following the 2025 Karnal paddy scam, where fake gate passes were used to sell paddy from other states in Haryana mandis.
• This led to fraudulent procurement records and siphoning of government funds, involving officials, traders, and millers.
• The scam resulted in multiple FIRs and arrests, prompting the government to implement biometric verification to prevent such fraud and ensure transparency in procurement.

Farmers’ Concerns Over Biometric Verification

• Farmers argue that procurement irregularities were due to collusion among officials and millers, not farmers themselves, yet the new system places the burden on them.
• They report long queues, slow verification, and procedural hassles, especially when the registered farmer cannot be physically present.
• Many see the process as excessive and humiliating, with union leaders calling it overly cumbersome and farmers feeling they are being treated with undue suspicion.

Government–Opposition Divide on Biometric Procurement

• The Haryana government defends biometric verification as a tool to enhance transparency, accountability, and efficiency, noting significant adoption in wheat procurement.
• It has also introduced relaxations, such as allowing nominated individuals and flexible vehicle documentation.
• However, opposition leaders criticise the system as bureaucratic and arbitrary, arguing it unfairly burdens farmers while ignoring the real issue of collusion among officials and traders.