Shadow Correspondent
Jammu, JULY 03:
As part of the nationwide rollout of the revamped Kisan Helpline Centre (KHC) under the Government of India’s KHC RFP-2025 initiative, the Acceptance Testing (AT) of the newly established Kisan Helpline Centre, Jammu was conducted today at the Directorate of Agriculture Krishi Bhawan Talab Tillo Jammu under the supervision of Joint Director Agriculture (Extension) Jammu Sanjay Anand.
The Acceptance Testing was undertaken in compliance with the directions issued by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India, to assess the operational readiness of the newly established Kisan Helpline Centre. The exercise involved a comprehensive evaluation of the Centre’s infrastructure, information technology systems, communication facilities, software applications and service delivery mechanisms to ensure adherence to the prescribed technical specifications and service standards.
The revamped Kisan Helpline Centre has been established to replace the erstwhile Kisan Call Centre with an integrated, technology-enabled platform providing farmers with a single-window facility for agricultural advisories, grievance redressal and information on government schemes and services. During the inspection, Sanjay Anand reviewed the overall functioning of the Centre and expressed satisfaction with the arrangements made for delivering prompt and effective services to the farming community.
Speaking on the occasion, Sanjay Anand said that the Kisan Helpline Centre would play a vital role in strengthening the agricultural extension system by ensuring timely dissemination of expert advisories, efficient grievance redressal and easy access to various government programmes through a modern digital platform. He expressed confidence that the initiative would significantly enhance the quality and outreach of extension services across the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. The Joint Director also urged all Chief Agriculture Officers (CAOs) and district-level officers to create widespread awareness about the Kisan Helpline Centre at the grassroots level, particularly through Panchayats, Farmer Awareness Programmes and extension activities. He appealed to the field functionaries to actively promote the toll-free helpline number 1800-180-1551 so that a larger number of farmers could avail themselves of the advisory and grievance redressal services offered through the Centre.
Earlier, Manager, Kisan Helpline Centre, Jammu Naveen Kumar briefed the Joint Director about the functioning of the Centre. He informed that during the peak agricultural season, the Centre receives an average of around 400 calls daily from farmers seeking guidance and grievance redressal related to agriculture, horticulture and allied sectors.
The Centre serves as a single-window platform where farmers can obtain scientific crop advisories, information on government schemes, pest and disease management, weather-related guidance, input management, market-related information and other agriculture-related services through a panel of subject matter experts.
The Acceptance Testing was conducted in the presence of Joint Director Agriculture (Extension), Jammu Sanjay Anand; Programme Officer (JDA Extension) Vivek Mahajan; Manager, Kisan Helpline Centre, Jammu Naveen Kumar; Supervisor, Kisan Helpline Centre, Jammu Nikhet Rafiq and officers of the Agriculture Department, Jammu.
