Now Reading: Kerala sets up 11-member panel for AgriStack data governance
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Kerala sets up 11-member panel for AgriStack data governance
The Kerala government has formed an 11-member State AgriStack Data Governance Committee (SADGC) headed by the Chief Secretary to manage agricultural data. The panel will act as the fiduciary custodian of all…
The Story in Brief
The Kerala government has formed an 11-member State AgriStack Data Governance Committee (SADGC) headed by the Chief Secretary to manage agricultural data. The panel will act as the fiduciary custodian of all AgriStack data within the state, held in public trust for farmers.
The move follows Union government guidelines issued in September 2025 for states to own the AgriStack operational backbone under the 'State Core Handover Support' programme. The panel will approve data access requests, set state-specific safeguards, and coordinate with the Centre. AgriStack, a digital public infrastructure, contains registries of farmers, geo-referenced village maps, and crop-sown data.
The Indian Opinion
This committee sounds like bureaucratic cover for a central digital landgrab. The Union government pushes AgriStack as a 'single source of truth' for farmer identity and land, but Kerala's panel must ensure it does not become a tool for surveillance or subsidy manipulation. Watch for how the committee handles data access requests from private firms. That will reveal whether this is genuine farmer empowerment or just another layer of control.
Source: thehindu.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
