Tech Shout!

Most of us would love to have unlimited free SMS services provided to us through our network providers. Though some of them have even come up with such smart schemes, most of the times there are some strings attached to such attractive offers. Well but the farmers in the northwest Indian state of Haryana surely seem to be getting the benefits of a Free-of-cost SMS service introduced exclusively for them.

In February, the Haryana Agriculture Department set up the totally free SMS service to reply to the problems and queries of the farmers. All the farmers need to do is send a text message to 9915862026 after which scientists and officials get in touch with the farmers through telephone. What’s best is that the farmers are contacted within 24-48 hours itself.

Up to July-end, as many as 1134 messages have been received and answered by the Department, stated an official spokes.

Out of the total SMSes received, 829 surrounded around the problems of Agriculture, 273 Horticulture, 6 Fisheries, 17 Animal Husbandry and 9 Forests.

This service is currently being actively monitored by the Agriculture Department, he added.

Another good thing about the service is that the farmers do not experience any dent in their pockets whatsoever, as the telephone call costs is borne by the state government.

According to the spokes, for solving the problem over the telephone, the farmers could also call the Toll Free Agriculture Helpline. This service was first started by the State Government in Ch Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar and then extended to Regional Research Centre, Uchani in Karnal and Bawal in Rewari.

Currently the farmers can go ahead and seek solutions of their problems on every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from Hisar and Bawal Centres between 1000 to 1200 hrs and on Tuesday and Thursday from Uchani Center between 1000 to 1100 hrs. But the service has been proposed to be extended to all week days.

Apart from these services, the Central government had also set up a toll free Kisan Call Centre. Level-I Call Centre for Haryana had been arranged at National Horticulture Board, Gurgaon with telephone number 1551. The level-II Centres of this service had been established at Directorate of Agriculture, Directorate of Horticulture, Panchkula and CCS Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar.

The Department is offering further help through the process of computerization and automation of the field offices and had launched its website, www.agriharyana.nic.in.