Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today distributed free mobile phones to some 5,000 farmers of the State in a bid to empower them with technology and improve their cultivation know how in coming years. They will be provided with free SMS, voice calls and expert advices relating to agriculture as per the arrangement with BSNL and IIT, Kanpur.
The scheme will entail benefit to around 15,000 farmers having Kisan Credit Cards as the government has planned to complete distribution process by couple of months. The government had set aside an allocation of Rs 2 crore for mobiles, in a separate agriculture budget, as announced in February this year. The scheme will enable farmers to find correct information about markets to sell their produce at right price, Minister for Cooperation and Rural Development Bikram Arukh said.