Bhubaneswar: Aadhaar Card will not be mandatory for farmers in Odisha to register for selling their paddy this year.

The State government’s Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare department has issued a letter to all District Collectors in this regard.

The letter states that farmers can register themselves for selling their paddy with Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS) and Large Sized Agricultural Multi-purpose Cooperative Societies (LAMPS) by using Voter I Card, Kissan Credit Card or Biju Krushak Kalyan Yojana (BKKY) Card.

On the other hand, farmers have been requested to register their Aadhaar Card numbers with the department to help it in preparing a database of farmers.

However, it is not mandatory; the department has clarified in the letter issued to District Collectors.

Notably, the department issued the letter in the wake of several farmers failing to register themselves to sell their paddy for not having Aadhaar Card.