Consultation Paper on IDEA (June, 1)

Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmer

Welfare
Government of India
1st June 2021

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 Consultation Paper on IDEA (June, 1)

Contents

1. Context of Digital Agriculture

1.1.Challenges of Agriculture Sector
1.2.Digital transformation of Agrifood Systems
1.3.Need for Ecosystem Thinking
1.4.Idea behind IDEA

2. The Idea Perspective

2.1.Digital Opportunities
2.2.IDEA Vision
2.3.IDEA Objectives
2.4.IDEA Value Proposition

3. IDEA Principles
3.1.Ecosystem Principles
3.2.Architecture Principles
3.3.Business Principles
3.4.Technology Principles
3.5.Architecture Governance Principles

4. IDEA Architecture
4.1.Building Blocks
4.2.IDEA Architecture

5. IDEA Standards
5.1.Standards Landscape
5.2.Approach to developing standards

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5.3.FAIR Standard- a possible game changer

6. Implementation Framework

7. Conclusion

ISSUES FOR CONSULTATION

Annexures

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1. Context

1.1.Challenges of agriculture sector

India’s agriculture sector accounts for about 15.9 % of the country’s US$ 2.7
trillion economy and 49% of employment (2018-19)[1]. Viewed from the
socio-economic point, agriculture is the most important sector that needs
focus and attention at all levels. The call of the Government of India to
achieve the goal of Doubling Farmer’s Income (DFI[2])by 2022, in a way,
epitomizes the need to pursue all possible ways of increasing the agricultural
productivity and profitability of the farmers. It also touches upon the need to
accelerate our efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of ending
hunger, poverty, and malnutrition in a sustainable manner. Agriculture
cannot be seen in isolation. It should be seen as an integral part of a larger
ecosystem spanning the entire primary sector including horticulture, animal
husbandry, fisheries, dairy, poultry, and other allied activities.

Several studies undertaken recently in India, including the one on DFI have
brought out the problems afflicting the agriculture sector. The
recommendations of these studies include, inter alia, ensuring timely
availability of inputs, an increased focus on measures to enhance the
productivity - especially of small and marginal farms, adoption of modern
agricultural practices, optimal use of inputs, choice of the right crops through
macro and micro-level planning, availability of near real-time information on
prices and markets, enhanced efficiencies in the post-harvest operations like
storage, logistics and food processing, affording the farmer a greater role and
share in the value chain, diversification, and above all, addressing the issues
relating to information asymmetry across the entire agricultural cycle. Such
long and complex agenda calls for a concerted action both on the policy and
implementation fronts, in the form of Green Revolution 2.0.

The major challenges of the agriculture sector are:

a) Food Sufficiency but Nutrition Deficiency.

b) High import of edible oil and oilseeds.

c) Yield plateaus.

d) Degrading soil, Water stress.

e) Inadequate market infra/linkages.

f) Unpredictable, volatile prices.

g) Post-harvest losses, wastages.

h) Lack of crop planning due to information asymmetry.

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1.2.Digital Transformation of Agrifood Systems

Digital technologies are transforming all the sectors of the economy and the
society in innumerable ways. Communications, banking, payments, travel,
energy, healthcare, taxation, and governance have significantly benefited by
deploying digital solutions. Agriculture and allied sectors call for ‘doing more
with less’ if the challenges depicted above are to be overcome effectively or
more so converted into opportunities to leapfrog. In a recent report the World
Bank Group has underpinned the need for the agriculture sector to embrace
digital technologies. ‘The digital revolution—and the data it generates—are
key to building an agriculture and food system that is efficient,
environmentally sustainable, equitable, and able to link the world’s 570
million farms with 8 billion consumers’. The Bank has suggested 7 strategies
to achieve the much-desired digital transformation. These are depicted in
Figure 1:

Figure 1: Global strategies for transforming food systems

A holistic approach to adoption of digital technologies, the critical role of

data, the requirement to ensure that the farmer has agency and control over
his/her data, the paramount importance of privacy through protection of
personal data, and the need to leverage emerging technologies for precision
agriculture are key takeaways from the global perspective.

1.3.Need for Ecosystem Thinking

Agriculture sector is a large, diverse, heterogeneous, complex, and sensitive

ecosystem. Any attempt to transform the sector needs to imbibe an
ecosystem thinking and a digital ecosystem.

A digital ecosystem is a distributed, adaptive, and open

socio-technical system with properties of self-
organization, scalability, and sustainability.

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The agriculture value chain extends from crop/ varietal selection and crop
management to the market. It involves public and private players in
agricultural inputs and services as also logistics. Establishing a digital
ecosystem of agriculture needs to take a long-term view of aspects like
interoperability, data governance, data quality, data standards, security and
privacy, besides promoting open innovation. A significant requirement is
adoption of a decentralized, federated architecture that assures autonomy to
the service providers and all other actors and ensures interoperability at the
same time.

1.4.The idea behind IDEA

Against the above backdrop, the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and

Farmer Welfare (DoAC&FW), Government of India (GoI) constituted a Task
Force (TF) and a Working Group (WG) consisting of domain experts and
technology experts to design a blueprint for digital agriculture. The TF co-
chaired by Sri Sanjay Agarwal, Secretary MoAC&FW and Sri J Satyanarayana,
former Secretary MeitY, GoI and coordinated by Sri Vivek Aggarwal Additional
Secretary DoAC&FW, met 8 times during 2019-21. The compositions of the
TF and the WG are given in Annexure 1 and Annexure II respectively.

The TF and the WG realized quite early that an ecosystem approach was
the only way forward to address the agriculture sector holistically. Moreover,
it was felt appropriate to draw from the national architecture principles and
patterns designed by the Ministry of Electronics and IT, especially the India
Digital Ecosystem Architecture (InDEA). Accordingly, the initiative was
named IDEA (‘InDEA Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture’).

The Ministry aspires that the IDEA initiative would place the farmer in the
centre of the agriculture ecosystem leveraging open digital technologies.
Some of these aspirations are articulated succinctly below.

The farmer takes informed decisions on what crop to grow, what variety of seed to buy, when to
sow, and what best practices to adopt to maximize the yield.

The agriculture supply chain players plan their production and logistics on precise and timely
information.

Precision agriculture becomes a reality with access to the right information at the right time.

Farmers know whether to sell or store their produce, and when, where and at what price to sell.

Farmers get the benefits of innovative solutions and personalized services driven by emerging
technologies with protection of privacy.

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2. The IDEA perspective

2.1.Opportunities

Digital technologies, and especially the emerging technologies like AI/ML, IoT
and DLT open immense opportunities, if we create the right architecture and
an enabling environment. Figure 2 gives a bird’s eye view of the array of
opportunities that the IDEA initiative can create.

Figure 2: Opportunities provided by IDEA

2.2. IDEA Vision

The following vision statement reflects the medium- and long-term outcomes
sought to be attained by the IDEA initiative.

“To build a National Digital Agriculture Ecosystem, to

elevate Indian Agriculture Sector to higher levels of efficiency
and productivity, and to improve the welfare and income of
farmers”

2.3. IDEA Objectives

The objectives of National Digital Agriculture Ecosystem are as follows:

1. To enable the farmer to realize higher income and better
profitability through access to right information at the right time,
and from innovative services.
2. To enable better planning and execution of policies, programs, and
schemes of the Central and State governments, and, also of the private
sector and Farmers Producer Organizations (FPOs)

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3. To enhance efficiencies in the usage of resources including land,

water, seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and farm mechanization by
providing easier access to information
4. To provide location-specific and personalized extension services
across agriculture lifecycle, with simultaneous protection of privacy of
personal data.
5. To build capacities across the gamut of digital agriculture and
precision agriculture
6. To promote adoption of standards for interoperability and seamless
exchange of information across ecosystem, while ensuring that he
digital rights are properly managed.
7. To give a fillip to R&D and Innovations in agriculture through access
to high-quality data
8. To adopt the best principles of cooperative federalism while working
with the states and union territories for the realization of the vision of
IDEA.
9. To formulate and leverage PPP frameworks for realizing the ‘power of
the digital’.

2.4. IDEA Value Proposition

In line with the value-centric, and stakeholder-centric approaches required to

build the digital ecosystem of agriculture, a mapping is done around the
major stakeholders and the related ‘value nodes.’ The result of the mapping
is depicted in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Mapping of agriculture value chain

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The salient features of the agriculture value chain are given below:

a. The value is mapped around 3 direct stakeholders – farmer,

governments/ governance and the market, and 2 supporting ecosystems
– Innovation and Agri Industry.

b. ‘Value nodes’ are functional areas in which value can be enhanced or new
value created through innovation.

c. The big picture view enables interrelationships of various value nodes to

be visualized and leveraged for realizing value on an end-to-end basis.

d. The objectives of IDEA highlighted in section 2.3 can be realized by

planning all activities around the value nodes.

e. The list of value nodes is non-exhaustive and can be modified or

enhanced depending upon the context of design and implementation.

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3. IDEA Principles
Any large and complex system can only evolve around a set of commonly
agreed principles. Multiple systems in the ecosystem can be designed or
redesigned to align with the common principles to ensure interoperability-by-
design and conformance-by-design. The Ministry of Electronics and IT, GoIin
its ongoing initiative on InDEA 2.0 has formulated a comprehensive set of
principles for guiding the design of digital ecosystems. It addresses the
requirements of the Ministries, States and Departments embarking on a
holistic digital initiative. The set of InDEA 2.0 principles is proposed to be
leveraged for designing the IDEA Architecture. These principles are to be
considered for adoption by the Central and State Governments as also all the
private entities of the agriculture ecosystem.

The IDEA Principles are presented below in 5 categories.

3.1. Ecosystem Principles

1. Ecosystem Thinking: Design all digital initiatives as ecosystems, and

NOT as systems.
 Ecosystems span across Centre and States, public and private,
and are composed of several autonomous, interoperable, and
federated systems.

2. Building Block approach: Architect and design systems and

ecosystems in terms of minimal and reusable Building Blocks.
 Categorize the Building Blocks as Core, Common or Reference
Building Blocks basing on the degree to which they are to be
decentralized. All the building blocks shall be able to evolve
orthogonally, thereby meaning that any building block can be
modified without requiring the other building blocks to make any
consequential changes.

3. Open API-based: Adopt the principle of ‘Open-API by default’.

Exceptions shall be justified.

4. Open, Open and Open: Design the digital systems to be built on

open source, to be published as open source, and to conform to open
standards. Exceptions shall be justified.

5. National Portability: Design national digital systems and platforms

for portability across India.

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 Factor the requirements of localization and diversity, inclusion,

and special needs.

6. Participatory Design: Drive participatory design and end-user

engagement at all stages of the digital initiative.
 To enable this, establish a set of robust and transparent rules of
engagement for the ecosystem players.

7. Innovation: Enable and promote innovation, and ‘responsible’

deployment of emerging technologies. Establishing an ‘ecosystem
sandbox’ can be good enabler of open innovation.

3.2.Architecture Principles

1. Federated Architecture: Adopt a Federated Architecture model for

designing digital ecosystems – especially data and applications.

 Architect around the constructs of Single-Source-of-Truth,

System-of-Records, and ‘unbundled applications’.

2. Agile Architecture: Permit the architecture to evolve in an agile and

iterative manner.

 Do not restrict or constrain the potential by being prescriptive

when not necessary. Adopt the principles and methods suggested
in Agile IndEA Framework[3]

3. Technology Independence: Architect systems to be technology-

independent.

3.3. Business (Domain) Principles

1. Value-driven: Focus on providing additional or new value to the user.

Plan to Define, Design and Deliver value. (Pl see Figure 3)

 Measure service levels (planned and achieved), impact and

outcomes.

 Adopt the methods suggested in Digital Service Standard[4].

2. Integrated Services: Identify, design, and deliver integrated services

that cut-across agency boundaries - public and private, to realize the goal
of Connected Government.

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3. Outcome-driven: Define service levels and outcomes benchmarking with

the best and build services around such outcomes. Work backwards to re-
engineer the processes - where necessary.

4. Choice: Provide choice, by design, to the farmer.

5. Universal Access: Ensure that the digital services are accessible to all
the target groups, including those residing in remote areas and to the
disadvantaged groups. Ensure that the benefits of IDEA reach small and
marginal farmers.

3.4. Technology Principles

1. Cloud First: Adopt the principle of Cloud First or Cloud-by-default and

leverage the full range of benefits offered by the cloud technologies.

2. Mobile First: Design the delivery of all digital services through mobile by
default.

3. Data is an asset: Design data systems in a manner that creates, supports,

maintains, and enhances value to the ecosystem. Promote establishment of
Data Exchange(s) that enable regulated exchange of data for public
purposes, innovation, and research, and for permissible commercial
purposes.

4. Data sharing: Lay down clear policies specific to the agriculture domain that
enable and regulate the sharing of data, in conformance with the applicable
data protection regulations.

5. Standards: Specify the existing technology and data standards applicable to

the ecosystem and define methods to ensure compliance with the same. The
technology standards recommended by IndEAFramework[5] may be followed.

6. Privacy-by-Design: All entities participating in IDEA shall ensure to protect

the personal information and publish a privacy policy(ies) that conform(s) to
the principles of Privacy-by-Design.

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Security-by-Design: All entities participating in IDEA may design and

enforce a cybersecurity policy that conforms to the principles of Security-
by-Design, and an ISMS (Information Security Management System) that
conforms to the ISOs relating to information security.

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4. IDEA Architecture
Designing the architecture for an ecosystem is a new concept. While
Enterprise Architecture has been well established globally, it is not so with
Ecosystem Architecture. The concepts like National Public Digital Platform,
National Open Digital Ecosystem are emerging in India. A few attempts are in
the offing in this area – National Digital Health Blueprint (NDHB)[6]and
National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR) are examples in point. InDEA
2.0 is an ongoing effort of the Ministry of Electronics and IT, GoI to create a
set of reference architecture patterns for designing ecosystem architectures
by various Ministries and States.

InDEA 2.0 has proposed a set of Architectural Patterns meant to be adopted

up by the Ministries of GoI, State Governments or small departments to
design their own ecosystem architectures. The IDEA Framework adopts the
Domain Architecture Pattern proposed by InDEA 2.0 and customizes it to
suit the needs of the agriculture domain (ecosystem).

1. Building Blocks

The architectural patterns are defined in terms of Building Blocks. It is

expedient therefore, to define the term ‘Building Block’ in the architectural
parlance.

A Building Block is a reusable package of business or technological

functionality.

Representing an architecture in terms of a set of building blocks brings the

following advantages:

a. The functionality can be reused in toto in multiple use cases and

solutions with a marginal effort, thereby cutting down design and
development time.

b. The specifications and requirements of each building block can evolve

independently of other building blocks or components, adding greatly
to the flexibility and innovation.

c. Building blocks can be made to interoperate with other building blocks

in a standard way, through pre-defined APIs, thus making the
integration of the systems and ecosystems easier and faster.

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d. Since a building block is technology-agnostic, it should be possible to

realize a building block in several different ways without impacting the
boundary or specification of the building block.

e. In substance, a building block may comprise of data, application, or a

set of interfaces.

Figure 4 is a technical representation of a typical building block. While

TOGAF has recently introduced two types of building blocks, namely
Architectural Building Block (ABB) and Solution Building Block (SBB)[7], it is
felt adequate to use the term Building Block to represent both in the context
of IDEA.

Figure 4: Building Block defined.

In line with InDEA framework, Building Blocks are categorized into three -
depending on the degree to which they are decentralized. These are defined
below:

a. Core Building Blocks: A core building block acts as the single-source-of-

truth at the national level or provides a centralized functionality required
for interoperability. By virtue of their critical and central nature, the core
building blocks are designed, developed, and maintained by the
government.

b. Common Building Blocks: A common building block is a reusable

functionality or application with the key objective of ensuring uniformity
and / or to prevent duplicative development work. Common Building
Blocks are developed and hosted by the Ministry on a multi-tenant
framework, and can be shared by the States and other ecosystem entities
optionally.

c. Reference Building Blocks: A reference building block has a generic

functionality which can be customized as needed. It is developed by the
Ministry and the code is published as open source for download by the
States or private sector organizations.

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2. IDEA Architecture

The IDEA architecture is derived from the ‘InDEA Domain Architecture

Pattern’, by including the core, common and reference building blocks
relevant to the agriculture sector.

Figure 5 represents the IDEA Architecture. The salient features of IDEA

Architecture are described in what follows. (an enlarged figure is provided in
Annexure VI )

Figure 5: IDEA Ecosystem Architecture

Salient Features of IDEA Architecture

IDEA is a layered architecture and is federated. Core layer, national layer and
State layer are independent but are interoperable as per need.

The architecture is crafted in 10 major components, serially numbered, and

explained below.

1. InDEA Principleshave been adopted in toto. These are stated in

section 3 above. All the entities participating in IDEA may comply with
these principles.

2. IDEA Core: IDEA Core has the minimal but foundational building
blocks, required for most other building blocks and most of the entities
participating in IDEA.

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i. Unique Farmer ID (UFID): A unique number assigned to every

farmer, and unique across the country. It is a random number. The
role of the UFID building block is

i. to validate that the demographic details and the associated

identifier (Aadhaar Number, Mobile number, or other
permitted ID)provided for assigning the UFID are unique
across the country

ii. to generate and return the UFID, the validated identifier,

and demographic data to the authorized seeker

iii. to store a copy of the UFID, the demographic data and the
validated identifier, and

iv. to authenticate the user when an API call for authentication

is received along with UFID, using a multi-factor
authentication mechanism as prescribed.

v. The regulations applicable to personal data shall apply to the

UFID database, to protect the privacy of personally
identifiable information.

The UFID Building Block DOES NOT CAPTURE OR STORE any

transaction data.

ii. IDEA Core Registries: Core registries are a set of databases that
contain the unique identifiers of entities, products or services
required to be registered with an authority of the Central
Government under a statute, rule, or notification. An entry to the
any of the Core Registries can be made only after the designated
statutory authority has approved its registration. Each registry
contains details of the registered entity, product, or service, along
with its identifier, registration particulars, period of validity,
location(s), and other details required to be provided while seeking
registration.

iii. IDEA Core Directories: Core directories are lists of entities,

locations, products, authorities, offices, and services maintained
centrally for administrative convenience and easy reference by the
user systems across the country. They contain information akin to
that in a registry, except the registration details, as it is
administrative but not statutory in nature.

iv. Master Codes: Master codes are identifiers of locations, products

and classifications that need to be adopted uniformly by all
organizations across the country, for uniformity and
interoperability.

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A non-exhaustive list of Core Registries, Core Directories and

Master Codes is provided in Annexure III.

v. Unified Farmer Service Interface (UFSI): UFSI is the most

important CORE Building Block of IDEA. It plays a unifying role.

UFSI is envisaged to play a role comparable to UPI (Unified

Payment Interface) in the space of digital payments. While UPI has
transformed the payment systems by optimizing the underlying
processes and providing a set of APIs for identification,
authentication, and authorization, UFSI is required to handle
multiple types of transactions in the digital agriculture space.
Hence, the design, development deployment, and management of
UFSI is likely to be more complex. The following considerations
should weigh with the design of UFSI.

a. Given that majority of the digital services and

transactions in the agriculture space happen within the
State jurisdictions, a monolithic architecture of UFSI
would pose problems of management and scalability. A
federated architecture is preferable.

b. GoI can establish the first instance of UFSI to handle

services and transactions (i) involving the central
government or its agencies, and, (ii) pan-India or cross-
border (intra-national and international) transfer of data.

c. The States will have the option of joining the national

UFSI to meet their data exchange requirements or
establish their own FSI and federate the same with UFSI.
The architecture of FSI’s can follow the prototype of UFSI
for faster implementation.

d. Private agencies may register and operate on the UFSI or

FSI or both depending on the nature and geographical
spread of their operations.

e. An active collaboration of the Ministry with NPCI (National

Payments Corporation of India) would lead to a faster
design and implementation of UFSI.

Figure 6 provides a high-level view of the UFSI. Essentially UFSI

enables the data providers and data consumers to exchange data in
an efficient, transparent and streamlined manner.

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Figure 6: Unified Farmer Service Interface

vi. IDEA Architecture Repository: IDEA is not a static document. It

evolves with need to accommodate more functionality in some of
the building blocks, with the advancement of technologies and
emergence of innovative products and solutions. Keeping this in
view, IDEA architecture shall be developed as a dynamic portal. All
the artefacts, building blocks and code updated continually, would
be hosted on the IDEA Portal. The portal will have the requisite
features like user registration, authentication and authorization,
search and discovery, performance monitoring, downloads, alerts
and notifications on updates, FAQs, adoption toolkits and help desk.
IDEA Portal shall eventually be a one-stop-shop for all architectural
needs of the ecosystem. The portal will offer IDEA-as-a-Service.

The example of South Korea in this area is quite instructive.All the

common modules and common components required by most of
the public sector organizations have been designed and the source
code with instructions for deployment is hosted on a common portal
(https://egovframe.go.kr/eng/main.do). This has reduced
duplicative work.

3. IDEA Common Building Blocks: The high-level functionalities of the

ten IDEA Common Building Blocks are mentioned below. These are
register-and-use or subscribe-and-use or plug-and-play applications
with configurable functionalities, with a short time to deploy, typically a
week at the most.

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IDEA Common
Building Blocks

i. IDEA Service Portal: IDEA Service Portal (different from IDEA

Architecture Portal described earlier), provides the user interface
for all the stakeholders. It has all the dynamic and interactive
functionalities to deliver a wide range of information and e-Services
offered by the Ministry and its associated departments and agencies
to farmers, agri-industry, supply chain actors and officials of the
Ministry and the States. IT IS A ONE-STOP-SHOP for all the
domain services delivered by the Central Governments to its
stakeholders. It shall comply with the Digital Service Standard
notified by MeitY.

ii. IDEA App Store:IDEA App Store (IAS) translates the principle of
Mobile First into reality. It is designed and built adopting the
Enterprise App Store (EAS) architecture, standards, and features.
IAS is a one-stop-shop for all the apps developed by the Ministry. It
will subscribe to the UMANG platform established by MeitY GoI and
extends it by additional functionalities specific to the agriculture
sector. It will have multi-lingual capabilities.

iii. Call Centre: The existing Kisan Call Centre system(s) may be re-
aligned to be in tune with the IDEA principles and integrated.

iv. SMS (Messaging): In the context of farmer-specific, farm-specific,

personalized advisories being possible with the implementation of
IDEA, the existing arrangements for sending out SMS advisories
may be reviewed and aligned to IDEA. Use of chatbots may also be
made part of the communication plan.

v. Weather Data: Multiple sources of weather data exist. This

Building Block organizes the data into open and priced, and acts as
a single point of access to the multiple datasets on weather through
standard APIs.
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vi. Lab-to-Field: A well-established network of Agriculture

Universities, Research Stations, and the specialized research
institutions of ICMR dot the country. They create significant amount
of cutting-edge knowledge on new crop varieties and crop
management methods. The Lab-to-Field Building Block will be
designed to be the storehouse of all such knowledge and good
agriculture practices and available through appropriate APIs to not
only the extension officers of the central and state governments but
also to the innovation ecosystem and agri-industry. The objective
is to ensure that there is very little lag between the creation
of knowledge and its widespread use by the farmers.

vii. Real-time Prices: This is one of the most pivotal building blocks
that affects the agriculture economy. This building block provides
an integrated access to the vast amount of data on prices of
agricultural commodities across the country and abroad. A large
number of innovative solutions useful to the farmers and market
players can be built around this building block.

viii. DBT: The multiple benefit schemes of the Central Government

relating to the Farmer are brought together in a unifying
environment, with efficiency, transparency, and farmer-centricity as
the goals. This building block shall operate in a truly federated
manner, architecturally and operationally.

ix. GoI Schemes: This building block brings uniformity in the way
multiple schemes of GOI relating to agriculture and farmer welfare
are delivered. Integrated delivery and cross-referencing of the
beneficiaries across multiple schemes is a desirable feature, subject
to the applicable consent requirements. Monitoring, analytics, and
impact analysis can be achieved in an integrated/ coordinated way.

x. Regulations and EoDB: This building block addresses the need for
re-engineering, simplifying and reducing paperwork relating to
obtaining licenses and permissions for a wide range of agri-
businesses. Its twin-goals are to enhance Ease-of-Doing-Business
and effectiveness of enforcing the agri-related regulations.

The States can emulate these building blocks in designing and

implementing their own applications in consonance with the above.

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4. IDEA Reference Building Blocks

Reference Building Blocks are applications with generic functionality available

for download and customization. These are preferably built using open source
software, products and components. An illustrative list of five reference
building blocks is included in IDEA Architecture. These are briefly discussed
below.

IDEA Reference Building

Blocks

i. Analytics: These are tools useful for general statistical analysis or

those developed for analytical needs specific to the agriculture sector.
Examples of the former are monitoring of trends of crop sowing, crop
condition, results of CCEs, physical and financial progress in
implementation of GoI programs. Examples of the latter are – tools for
prediction of commodity prices, market intelligence and weather
prediction. It is desirable that a set of tools that can yield quick results
are identified, enhanced to meet the IDEA principles and standards,
and positioned as reference building blocks/ applications. These could
include well-stabilized applications.

ii. e-NAM: Keeping in view the need to speedily modernize and automate
all the market yards across the nation, the e-NAM application may be
converted into a reference application and hosted, to enable the AMCs
that have adequate resources to take up fast track implementation.

iii. GIS Layers and Tools: Given the critical role of geo-spatial
technology in the agriculture sector, a set of OSS Products in geo-
spatial technology may be positioned along with the most popularly
used layers. This would open large opportunities for innovative
products to emerge.
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iv. IDEA Sandbox or I-Box: The goal of the I-Box is to promote open
innovation by creating a Minimum Enabling Environment (MEE). The
MEE consists of both technology environment and facilitatory
environment. The technology environment has the capabilities of (a)
testing and validation of innovative solutions for conformance to IDEA
principles and standards (b) validation w.r.t compliance to the norms
and (c) assurance of no harmful effects. The facilitatory environment
includes (a) enablement of access to data for training, testing and
validation of algorithms (b) validation for compliance to AI Ethics (c)
certification for conformance and (d) access to domain and
technological knowledge required by the startups.

I-Box would provide equitable opportunities to all innovative solutions

(innovators) which satisfy the minimum eligibility criteria for entry into
the I-Box. I-Box would have appropriate governance structure
comprising of technical and domain experts. Figure 7 provides a high-
level architecture of an Ecosystem Sandbox (ESB), termed I-Box in the
context of IDEA.

Figure 7: High-level architecture of I-Box

v. Agri Data Exchange(ADEx): ADExis proposed as a key enabler of

data economy. Data of appropriate quality is an asset that has multiple
ways of creating economic value through its innovative use in a
regulated environment. Agricultural data forms one of the most
diverse, complex, and huge data ecosystems. However, several studies
including the DFI report show that the apparent and latent value of
data is not exploited to any significant extent currently for several
reasons like (a) lack of qualitative data (b) incomplete datasets (c)
lack of an organized and trustworthy system for exchanging of data
and (d) lack of interoperability standards.

IDEA proposes to address all these challenges systematically by

promoting the establishment of Agri Data Exchange(s). The concept of
Data Exchange is at a nascent stage globally. A brief description of a

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6-layer Reference Model of Data Exchange designed by C4IR India,

World Economic Forum is shown in Annexure IV.

5. InDEACommon Building Blocks and Reference Building Blocks

InDEA 2.0 framework is at an advanced stage of development by the Ministry

of Electronics and IT, GoI. It has identified and included several Common
Building Blocks and Reference Building Blocks. These are generic applications
that help increase productivity or provide shared infrastructure environment,
and tools that enable build applications. A set of these readily available
applications, tools and infrastructure is proposed to be adopted/ adapted to
be part of IDEA Architecture. The benefit is a quick and uniform
implementation across the landscape of agriculture sector. These can be
useful to both public and private sector entities.

IndEACommon &Reference
Building Blocks

Table 1 provides an overview of the functionality of these building blocks

being borrowed from the InDEA Framework.
 Consultation Paper on IDEA (June, 1)

Sl Common/Reference Functionality
No Building Block of
InDEA 2.0
1 e-Office  Creates paperless environment through
e-Files.
 Complies with all the office procedures
prescribed by Central/ State Secretariat
Office manuals
 Well stabilized and user-friendly
 Complies with security and confidentiality
requirements.
 Can be launched in a short time of 4 to 8
weeks for small to large offices (10 users
to 10,000+ users)
 Maintained by NIC at notified licensing
cost per user
2 KMS (Knowledge  Bundled along with e-Office
Management  Enables systematic organization of
System) knowledge of the Ministry or department
for easy access by the employees while
processing the files.
 Knowledge includes Office Memos, Policy
documents, domain-specific knowledge
3 LMS (Learning  Designed and developed by NIC, based on
Management LMS Standards
System)  Currently contains several courses on e-
Governance.
 The Ministry can host a wide variety of
courses and content on Agriculture
domain that can be used across the
country.
 Can be a useful tool for self-paced
capacity building.
4 Search Engine  Under development by NIC/MeitY

5 Payment Gateway  UPI and BHIM can be leveraged

6 Service Plus  A platform for rapid development and
deployment of digital services – G2C and
G2B
 Deployed by several Ministries and
Governments
 Developed and supported by NIC
7 Language Tools  A set of tools called ‘Bhasha’ that provide
capabilities for translation, building of
web-sites in local languages
 Useful in sending communications to the
farmers in their language
 Compliant with relevant Standards.

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8 Consent Manager  Developed to comply with the Consent

requirements under the privacy laws.
 Critical for ensuring that all projects
relating to data sharing comply with the
applicable regulations
 Well established through its extensive
use in Digi Locker
9 e-Mail  e-mail system developed by NIC on
Outlook platform.
 Can enable the Ministry to enforce the e-
Mail policy of GoI strictly across all its
offices.

It is recommended that the Ministry collaborates closely with NIC and MeitY
to (i) satisfy that the above applications conform to / made to conform to
IDEA principles and DSS standards (ii) provides necessary budget and (iii)
implements these applications in a time-bound manner in all its offices across
the country. This would enhance internal efficiency and productivity
significantly.

6. State Core(s)

InDEA 2.0 framework is designed keeping in view the federal structure of

Government in India. Several subjects, including Agriculture are dealt with by
both the Central and State Governments by undertaking various schemes.
Moreover, the concept of Ecosystem Architecture can succeed only if the
Central and State Governments have interoperable and compatible systems
in place. Hence a State Core has been proposed by InDEA 2.0 The basic
function of the State Core is to act as a bridge (i) between the various state
departments and agencies and (ii) between a State department and the
corresponding Ministry of GoI.

State Core
 Consultation Paper on IDEA (June, 1)

The State Core represented in the IDEA Architecture, therefore, does not
relate to the agriculture sector alone, but provides similar functionality to
multiple departments. With wider adoption of InDEA 2.0 Framework, the
State Cores are expected to be established in several states. The Ministry of
Agriculture may make a coordinated effort with MeitY, GoI in accelerating the
establishment of state Cores, with the requirements of agricultural sector
taken care of in the first phase of such State Cores.

The functionalities of the building blocks comprising the State Core are not
described here as they are identical to those of the IDEA Core but applied at
the State level.

7. National Agriculture Applications adopted by the State(s):

Over the last 2 decades, several applications relating to agricultural sector

have been developed by the Ministry and the organizations under it. It is
desirable that the States examine these applications and adopt them if they
meet their requirements. Appropriate customizations may be needed to suit
local requirements. It is a fundamental first step that the Ministry scrutinizes
the applications w.r.t their conformance to IDEA Principles and architecture,
before offering them to the States. Annexure V provides the top applications
under this category and indicates the owner of the application, besides the
major States which have adopted each application.

8. States’ Common Applications

As in the case of the Ministry of Agriculture, GoI, several States have

developed large applications with state-wide footprint. These are time-tested
and the field functionaries are well-acquainted with using them. In line with
the IDEA Principles, such well-established legacy applications need to be
mainstreamed into IDEA. The following broad guidelines are given in this
regard.

a. The States may prepare an inventory of applications (and Apps) in the

agriculture domain that have a state-wide footprint and are stabilized at
least over a year.

b. The applications may be audited critically in association with the IT

department of the State, NeGD Division of MeitY and the Digital
Agriculture Wing of the Ministry of Agriculture, GoI. The purpose of the
audit is to assess the degree of its compliance to the IDEA principles set
out in this report, identify the gaps and explore ways and means of

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enhancing the applications to conform completely to IDEA Principles,

besides the Digital Service Standard notified by MeitY.

c. Special emphasis may be laid on the feasibility of achieving (with a

reasonable effort in 3months) - (i) interoperability with other correlated
applications of the State, State Core and IDEA Core, through an API-
based approach (ii) conformance of the database(s) to the MDDS
standards notified by MeitY (iii) compliance with security and privacy
requirements (iv) scalability (v) use of open standards and open source
products (vi) amenability of providing access to the data by digital
service providers and innovators to be permitted (vii) availability of
services through mobile. (viii) possibility of offering the application to
the common pool for adoption by the other States

d. An indicate list of themes in which such ‘common’ application can be

identified is shown in part 8 of the IDEA Architecture depicted in Figure
5 (ante).

Value-added
& Innovative
Services by
AgriTech
Industry &
Startups

9. Value-added services and Innovative services

Data is the new oil. When managed properly, it can fuel innovation and
support several value-added services. With the promise of IDEA streamlining
the digital systems of agriculture, both in the public and private sectors, high
quality, real-time data is expected to be accessible openly or made available
for a cost. With this scenario being possible soon, especially through the
establishment of I-Box and Agri Data Exchange(s), we can expect a large
number of value-added services and innovative services being developed and
delivered by the industry and startups.

The possible list of innovative services across the agriculture value chain are
given in Table 2.

Table 2: Illustrative list of Value-added & Innovative services

 Consultation Paper on IDEA (June, 1)

Sl Theme / Value-added Value Proposition Technologies

No Segment of Service to be used
Agriculture Innovative
Value Chain Service

1 Crop Macro Crop  Planning the extents, locations  AI

Planning Planning and varieties of crop to be grown  ML
in different agro-climatic zones  Statistical
 Focus on import substitution, Models
nutrition, and export revenues  Big data

Micro Crop  Advisories to the farmers 4-6  AI

Planning weeks ahead of each season, on  Soil data
what crops/ varieties to sow  Satellite
 Advisories on optimal sowing data
windows

2 Cultivation Smart F-a-  Providing an entire range of  Aggregation

a-S digital services to the farmer in platform
respect of crop management  ML
(Smart  Through aggregation of  IoT
Farming-as- innovative services provided by  Drones
a-Service) multiple service providers on a  Satellite
single app. data
 The portfolio of services could  PoS devices
include
o Rapid soil testing
o e-Soil Health Card (on mobile)
o Integrated Nutrient
Management
o Uberized farm machinery
services
o Hyper-local weather advisories
o Pest prediction and
management advisories
o Credit services
o Insurance services

3 Supply Logistics Logistics services for transportation  Blockchain

Chain of inputs and produce

4 Market Market  Market Intelligence  AI

Connect o Demand & Price prediction  Satellite
 Storage data
o warehousing  IoT
o cold chain
o eNWR
 Produce Aggregation Services
 Hyper-local connect (F2C)
 Online Retail

5 Quality Quality  Rapid quality testing &  IoT

Testing certification @
o Public Procurement
o Market Yards
o Exports
o Retail

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Traceability  Exports  Blockchain

 High-value produce
 Organic produce

6 Data Data  Unlocking the potential value of  Digital

Exchange data Technologi
 Ease of availability of data for es
innovation and research
 Fair distribution of ‘data value’
to all participants/ data owners,
including farmer

10. Infrastructure and Technology Services

Several components of the technology and infrastructure can be sourced in a

standard way to enable faster implementations. These include the cloud
infrastructure, video-conferencing, visualization, document management and
analytics. Institutionalized arrangement may be made at the State level to
provide all such technology-related services on a shared basis, along with
24x7 support. This would free the domain personnel from a lot of infructuous
effort in procurement/ discovery of resources and troubleshooting.

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5. IDEA Standards
Standards are like the CNS of a large digital ecosystem like IDEA. They
enable and streamline seamless flow of information across the entire
ecosystem instantaneously as per need. A significant, intensive, large, and
coordinated effort is needed in standard setting in the agriculture sector. A
high-level approach is provided for the samein this section.

1. Standards Landscape

Figure 8 depicts the landscape of standards in the agriculture sector. An

overview of the IDEA standards is given in what follows.

Figure 8: The Standards landscape of IDEA

a. IDEA Standards or standards required for the digital ecosystem of

agriculture sector fall into two categories – domain standards and IT
Standards. The former deal with the standards relating to the agricultural
commodities and products, and the materials used to produce them. IT
Standards can relate to the various technologies and the most important
ingredient of IT namely, data.

b. The domain standards are meant to classify the various commodities,

products, and materials, lay down quality norms and the terms and
processes used in trading in the commodities and products. Some of these
standards are available and are listed in the Table 3. Significant and
systematic work needs to be commissioned by the Ministry in promoting
and supporting the development of the complete set of standards required
in the domain space.

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c. Development and enforcement of the domain standards enables

innovative products and solutions to emerge in the areas of Quality
Testing, Conformance certification, traceability, supply chain optimization
and enhancing the efficiencies in trading and commodity exchanges,
besides transparency in various transactions in the ecosystem.

Item Applicable Standard

Definition and  FAOSTAT commodity list

classification of
 Food items (commodities)
commodities
 CPC ver.2.1 expanded for agriculture (crops,
livestock, and derived products) and
correspondences to FCL

Definition and  Definitions & classifications of agricultural

classification of machinery and equipment
agricultural
 Definitions and classifications of pesticides
inputs
 Definitions and classifications of fertilizers

Land use  Definitions and classification of Land Use,

Agricultural Practices, and Irrigation

Agricultural  Definitions and classification of Land Use,

Inputs Agricultural Practices, and Irrigation

Table 3: List of domain standards available in agriculture sector

d. In the context of IDEA, IT Standards serve the following critical

objectives:

 Enable interoperability of various systems in the central and state

governments and the private sector.

 Development of solutions which are scalable across the country.

 Automation of several repetitive activities through machine-

readability of information using a combination of methods that
leverage the syntactic and semantic interoperability.

 Sustainability of the IT solutions over a long period.

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e. 3 sets of IT standards available today are shown in Figure 8. These are

(i) an exhaustive list of standards applicable to the hardware,

software, networking, and security areas of IT provided in IndEA
1.0 Framework (compiled in 2017 and need to be updated).

(ii) Digital Service Standard(DSS), notified by MeitY, GoI in 2019

that lay down the norms for the design, development, and
deployment of IT Solutions to provide digital services to the
stakeholders.

(iii) A set of MDDS (Metadata and Data Standards)[8] notified by MeitY

to define the most used data elements (fields) while designing
databases.

2. Approach to developing Data Standards for IDEA

An important gap that impedes the development of interoperable solutions

in the IDEA ecosystem is the absence of standards for defining the various
data elements, entities, and activities of the agriculture ecosystem in a
globally understood way. A step-by-step approach is needed for
developing these standards, as shown in Figure 9, starting with the easy
ones and advancing the development to more complex tasks with time.

Figure 9: Approach to developing Data Standards for IDEA

The following guidelines are suggested for the systematic and time-bound
development of standards

a. An organization dedicated to the development of standards may be

established bythe Ministry.

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 Consultation Paper on IDEA (June, 1)

b. A multi-stakeholder governance system may be established with

representation from academia, governments (central and state), and
industry.

c. A set of multi-disciplinary teams may form the organization structure,

to be responsible for development of domain standards and IT
standards.

d. Adequate budgetary resources may be provides to the organization

with specific timelines and deliverables.

3. FAIR Standard

While the various standards may be developed in a phased manner, a special

focus may be laid on the development of interoperable data standards on the
lines of FHIR in respect of the health sector. Tentatively named as FAIR (Fast
Agriculture Interoperability Resources), these standards can be shaped on
the lines of the corresponding health artifacts.

This calls for a seamless exchange of information in machine-readable form

between organizations and systems that span the ecosystem. Significant
opportunities, like the following, can open up if the challenge of
interoperability in agri-informatics is addressed by establishing data
standards.
 Bridging a huge gap that exists in the national, regional and global
food systems.
 Development of innovative digital agriculture systems that provide an
array of value-added services to the stakeholders
 Paving the way for the evolution of a huge digital agri-ecosystem, and
a number of open, interoperable, public digital platforms
 Enabling horizontal and vertical scaling of the numerous deployments
of emerging technologies in the space of food systems, including crop
yield estimation, stress prediction, price forecasting, food grading,
precision farming and AI-powered advisories to farmers
The proposed FAIR initiative will have significant impact in multiple
dimensions as indicated below:
• FAIR will enable automated exchange of information in real-time
across the entire chain of food systems, nationally and globally. This
will enhance the velocity of all operations across the agriculture value
chain.
• Increase profitability of farmers by empowering them to take the right
decisions at the right time on various farm activities, enable reducing
the input costs due to more efficient supply chains, increase the yield
due to accurate AI-enabled advisories, and provide market linkages by
deploying innovative IT solutions.

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• Governments can make more timely interventions to reduce the stress

of the farmers, by taking up a data-driven approach using emerging
technologies.
• Collectively, the above benefits can make a positive impact on the
SDGs.

FAIR will have to develop standards for over 100 datasets in the agriculture
ecosystem. Eventually it can be extended to the entire primary sector, which
includes animal husbandry and fisheries.

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6. Implementation Framework
Implementing IDEA is a challenging task, given the wide scope, multiple
dependencies, and complexities in coordination across the country. A
federated implementation structure is best suited with clear definition of roles
and clear division of responsibilities between the Central and State
Government. A significant role needs to be played by the private sector in the
co-creation of the various artifacts’ and solutions, as also adoption and
implementation at the field level. The following broad guidelines are
suggested in this regard:

a. IDEA is proposed to be implemented on a mission-mode, by establishing

a National Mission on Digital Agriculture (NMDA) with a dedicated team of
experts. An autonomous and professional wing within the just-
established National Farmers Welfare Society.

b. A multi-stakeholder IDEA Advisory Council will be established to guide

NMDA.

c. Counterpart organizations may be established at the State-level, with

partial funding from the Ministry, preferably under a central sector
scheme.

d. An effective PPP Framework will be formulated after co-designing it with

the private sector. The framework should allocate responsibilities, risks
and rewards between the public and private sector.

e. The adoption of IDEA may be incentivized by linking a portion of the

central assistance in the agriculture sector to the progress achieved in
implementing IDEA.

f. NMDA may be required to draw up a comprehensive plan of capability

building for the design, development, and implementation of IDEA. The
plan should address the capabilities required at the policy, technology,
management, and program implementation levels.

g. A three-year action plan may be developed for implementing IDEA across

the country. The plan may specify the milestones, deliverables, and
timelines. The action plan may include the following:

i. Establishment of National Mission on Digital Agriculture (NMDA)

ii. Design and development of Federated Architecture of IDEA

iii. Design, development, and implementation of IDEA Core

iv. Assessment of legacy systems of Centre & States for conformance to

IDEA Principles and Architecture and enhancing the same to
conform.

v. Design and notification of Policies on Security, Privacy and Consent

Management and Data Sharing, in consultation with States and
Industry.

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vi. Establishing UHID system and publication of relevant APIs

vii. Design, development / enhancement of IDEA Common Applications

viii. Formulate appropriate Central Sector Scheme for IDEA

ix. Establishing a dedicated institution for setting IDEA Standards

x. Notification of PPP Framework for implementation of various

components of IDEA.

h. An impact assessment framework may be designed to assess the

outcomes and impact on the targeted beneficiary groups.

7. Conclusion
IDEA is an idea whose time has arrived. Adoption of a holistic ecosystem
approach to address the multiple challenges faced by the agriculture sector is
of national importance, to fulfil the aspirations like Doubling Farmer’s Income
and achieving the SDG’s. A multi-stakeholder approach is essential with
government playing the role of an enabler of the ecosystem players, rather
than acting as a builder of digital systems.

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Issues for Consultation

1. Vision and Objectives
1A – Is the idea of IDEA necessary for India’ Agriculture
ecosystem?
< Is the proposed Digital Ecosystem a high priority for realization of
the aspirations like DFI and SDG’s?>
1B- Is IDEA feasible?
<Is it practicable to implement IDEA in the Indian environment and
conditions with a reasonable assurance of making the required impact
on productivity, production, and profitability? Are factors like small
holdings, digital illiteracy, resource constraints, and last mile
connectivity so serious as to defeat the goals of IDEA?>

2. IDEA Architecture
2A – Is the 3-level Architecture proposed for IDEA appropriate?
<IDEA is conceptualized as 3 level - Core, National and State levels,
keeping in view the federal structure of the Government. Is this
structure suitable for the agriculture ecosystem also, which also
contains private, startup and NGO systems? >

2B – Does IDEA capture the spirit of Federated Architecture

correctly and adequately?
<IDEA is founded on the principles of Federated Architecture –
Federated Databases, Federated Applications and Federated
Governance. What are the technological concepts, products, standards
and protocols that reinforce/ enable the Federated Architecture?>

2C –IDEA Architecture is designed in terms of Building Blocks.

Is this appropriate?
<IDEA is composed of Building Blocks – Core BBs, Common BBs and
Reference BBs. Is this realistic? Can the Reference Building Blocks be
managed for maximum adoption across the country, taking care of
regional and linguistic variations? Are these useful to the private sector
also?>

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3. IDEA Standards

3A – Is the approach to development and adoption of

Standards proposed in IDEA appropriate?
<IDEA has identified the broad areas requiring Standards to be
developed and/or adopted. Is this the right approach?>

3B – Is FAIR feasible? [Fast Agriculture Interoperability

Resource]
<IDEA advocates development of FAIR as an interoperability standard,
on the lines of FHIR in respect of health data. Is this a fair
comparison? Is FAIR feasible, useful?>

4. IDEA Implementation Framework

4A – IDEA proposes development of a PPP framework for its

implementation. How to develop such a framework?
<What are the design considerations for developing a PPP Framework
for implementing IDEA?>

4B – Can IDEA attract/ facilitate fresh investments in Digital

Agriculture?
<IDEA needs to be implemented by public and private sectors in
unison. Does the IDEA framework inspire adequate confidence in the
private sector to make the required investments in developing
products and solutions based on IDEA framework? What are the
enablers/ catalysts to be put in place for such investments to
happen?>

5. Agri Data Economy

5A – Is Agri Data Exchange[ADEx] necessary?
<IDEA suggests the need to establish Agri Data Exchange for faster
and purpose-driven exchange of data. Is there a business case for
establishing Data Exchange for the agri sector? Given the large

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landscape, variety of commodities and activities in the agri ecosystem,

is there case for multiple Data Exchanges, focusing on multiple groups
of crops/ commodities?>

5B – What should be the implementation model for ADEx?

<Should ADEx be a government-led or private sector-led initiative?
What kind of incentives, if at all, are required to be provided by the
Central/ State Governments to promote ADEx(s)?>

5C – What are the regulatory requirements for ADEx?

<ADEx(s) deal with huge data that can consist of personal and non-
personal data. Are the proposed provisions of PDP Bill, and the Report
on Non-Personal Data Governance Framework adequate to regulate
the ADEx(s). If not, what other regulatory provisions are required?>

6. Innovation around IDEA

5A – Is IDEA Sandbox [I-Box] necessary?
<IDEA suggests the need to establish IDEA Sandbox [I-Box]
forfacilitating, enabling and promoting open innovation in agri-tech
space. Is there a functional justification and a business case for
establishing I-Box for the agri sector? >

5B – What should be the implementation model for I-Box?

<Should I-Box be a government-led or private sector-led initiative?
What kind of incentives are required to be provided by the Central/
State Governments to promote I-Box(s)?>

7. Other Suggestions
< Pl provide any other suggestions not covered by the above
questionnaire>

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Annexure I - OM on Constitution of Task Force

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Annexures II - OM on Constitution of Working Group

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OM on Constitution of Working Groups – Sub Group A

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OM on Constitution of Working Groups – Sub Group B

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OM on Constitution of Working Groups – Sub Group C

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Annexure III (see Section 4.2(2))

Illustrative list of Core Registries, Core Directories and Master Codes in

Agri Sector

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Annexure IV (see Section 4.2(4))

Reference Model of Data Exchange (DEx)

1. Overview

Data Exchange (DEx) is a critical building block in the evolution of data

economy. Multiple Exchanges need to evolve to meet the widely varying
requirements of the various sectors of the economy to realize the full
potential. This model outlines the technical, regulatory, and operational
requirements of the DEx. Considering that itis a nascent concept with very
few functional exchanges available globally, it is felt appropriate to provide
an illustrative reference model of DEx that incorporates all the features and
requirements..

2. Value proposition and objectives of Data Exchange

It is a necessary first step for the sponsors of a DEx to set out clearly the
sector(s) that the DExM proposes to address, and the value proposition of the
DEx in specific terms. This is essentially required to see that the critical mass
of data providers, data consumers and other service providers are convinced
of the viability of participating in the DEx initiative. While the value
proposition depends substantially on the sector, the following is an illustrative
list of objectives that DEx could pursue and offer.

a. Ease of discovery of data critically required for business operations.

b. Deriving the full economic value out of the ‘internal’ data, which is
anyway created by an organization for its business purposes.

c. Availability of data required for innovation using AI and other

emerging technologies.

d. Being able to provide value-added, integrated, and end-to-end services

to the customers using the combinatorial power of different datasets
obtained from multiple sources.

e. Development of services that promote public good by using data,

which was not easily available in pre-DEx situation.

f. Enhancing the transparency of businesses and the public sector

through analysis of data and deriving insights into the functioning and
performance of various organizations.

g. Accelerating research in areas of public interest like health, education,

agriculture, and environment.

h. Inculcating ‘data discipline’ among various organizations in their

effort to participate actively in the DEx ecosystem.

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3. Scope of Data Exchange

DEx needs to play the role of a facilitator. It should be data-agnostic,

technology-neutral, fair, and equitable through the transparency of its
governance systems. Considering this, a DEx needs to limit its scope to
establishing the Minimum Enabling Environment with the mission of
connecting the data providers and data consumers by merely acting as an
‘intelligent bridge’ between them. The scope of the DExneeds to be carefully
delineated by the sponsors spelling out what the DExwill do, and equally
importantly, what it will not do. The minimal technical and functional
capabilities of the DEx are indicated in what follows.

4. Logical Architecture of Data Exchange

Figure A gives a high-level view of the DEx in terms of the various

components and their respective capabilities.

Figure A: Reference Model of DEx

The salient features of the structure, as below.

a. The 6 components of the DEx represent 30 capabilities in the areas of

technology, regulation, and management. These are considered
adequate to form the Minimum Enabling environment.

b. The promoters of DEx should detail these capabilities into a set of

granular requirements and specifications that inform and guide the
actual implementation.

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c. Open standards, open source components and agile development

methodology are recommended.

d. The 6 components should be developed adopting the principle of

orthogonality.

5. Guidelines for Implementation

a. A multi-stakeholder governance structure should be established to

ingrain trust, and to balance the interests of diverse groups of
stakeholders. Considerations of gender, equity and sustainability should
weigh with the sponsor in arriving at the constitution.

b. The initiative can be government-led or business-led depending on the

sector or theme. Government-led DEx implementations should consider
PPP model or partnership model in preference to an RFP-based or least-
cost-based procurement. The partner should have adequate expertise in
the sector and its data space and should have adequate stake in the
success of the venture.

c. An appropriate business model may be devised to ensure that the DEx is

financially sustainable. It is preferable that the sponsor bears the capex of
the MEE and the operational costs are recovered through service charges
to be collected from the participants of DEx.

d. While selecting a partner for the DEx project, is essential to eliminate any
possible conflict of interest in terms of technology or the use of data.

6. Conclusion

Data Economy promises a lot. Catalyzing the development of a few data

exchanges is an essential first step. This note provides a high-level guidance for
its implementation.

54
 Consultation Paper on IDEA (June, 1)

Annexure V (see Section 4.7)

Major Applications developed by the Ministry of
Agriculture
(to be considered by the States for adoption)

Sl Name of the Overview of Website/ URL Contact

No Application Functionality details of
Developer/
Nodal
Officer
1 PM-KISAN May be seen www.pmkisan.gov.in/ NIC Team
through URL M/o
Agriculture
2 Soil Health http://soilhealth.dac.gov.in
Card
3 Agri-Clinics http://www.agriclinics.net/
and Agri-
Business
Centre
4 Agrimarket https://agmarknet.gov.in/
Portal
5 DBT Central http://dbtdacfw.gov.in
Agri Portal
6 DBT Farm http://agrimachinery.nic.in
Mechanisation
7 Department of http://agricoop.gov.in/
Agriculture,
Cooperation
and Farmers
Welfare
Website
8 Farm Analysis http://farmap.dac.gov.in
Package 2.0
9 FQCS http://fqcs.dac.gov.in

10 SEEDEXIM http://Seedexim.gov.in

55
Annexure VI
IDEA Architecture (see section 4.2)

56
References
1. https://ficci.in/spdocument/23154/Online_Farm-
mechanization-ficci.pdf
2. https://agricoop.gov.in/hi/doubling-farmers-income-0
3. https://www.meity.gov.in/writereaddata/files/agile_inde
a_framework-v.1.0.pdf
4. https://negd.gov.in/digital-service-standard
5. http://egovstandards.gov.in/sites/default/files/IndEA%2
0Framework%201.0.pdf
6. https://www.nhp.gov.in/NHPfiles/National_Digital_Health
_Blueprint_Report_comments_invited.pdf
7. http://egovstandards.gov.in/sites/default/files/IndEA%2
0Framework%201.0.pdf
8. http://egovstandards.gov.in/sites/default/files/IndEA%2
0Framework%201.0.pdf

57