When a Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) Local Group (LG) leader or secretary leaves, changes their phone number, or stops participating, operational bottlenecks arise. Pending peer appraisals and crop entries become locked under the former leader's account. This prevents the group from completing seasonal certification tasks under schemes like Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) or the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF).

Regional Council (RC) members must administrative updates on the official portal (pgsindia-ncof.gov.in) to restore group functionality. This guide outlines the manual procedure for an RC to update group leadership details, resolve authentication issues, and reassign portal permissions.

1. Reassigning Portal Permissions for a Local Group Leader Change

When an existing leader steps down, the RC must execute a PGS portal change group leader workflow to reassign management rights to the newly elected leader or secretary. Leaving administrative rights under an inactive user blocks data entry for all group members.

To transfer administrative rights on the portal, follow these manual steps:

  1. Log in to the RC dashboard on the official portal managed by the National Centre for Organic and Natural Farming (NCOF).
  2. Navigate to the Local Group management menu and search for the specific LG by its unique registration code or name.
  3. Open the group profile and select the option for updating group office bearers or changing group leadership.
  4. Select the registered group member who will assume the role of the new LG leader or secretary.
  5. Confirm the internal election minutes uploaded by the group approving the leadership transition.
  6. Save the updates to trigger the profile re-assignment request.

If you need to register a new group from scratch before assigning roles, read our detailed guide on PGS India Local Group Registration: Setup and Farmer Entry.

2. Resolving Aadhaar and OTP Authentication Failures

A frequent obstacle during role reassignment is authentication failure. A Local Group leader Aadhaar re-verification PGS step is required to complete the transfer. If the new leader's mobile number is not linked to their Aadhaar, or if the portal record has typos in the Aadhaar number, the system blocks the update.

To resolve Aadhaar re-verification and OTP failures, complete the following checks:

  1. Verify that the new leader's name and date of birth in the portal profile match their Aadhaar card exactly.
  2. Ensure the mobile number entered on the portal matches the mobile number registered with UIDAI for Aadhaar OTP delivery.
  3. If the former leader's registered phone is inactive, apply a Regional Council LG update PGS India override within the portal settings to re-send verification codes to the new leader's device.
  4. Clear the browser cache or try an incognito window if the OTP prompt freezes during submission.
  5. Re-submit the Aadhaar authentication request once the demographic data matches UIDAI records.
Regional Councils must verify that the new leader's demographic data on the portal matches their Aadhaar record exactly before initiating authentication, as UIDAI validation fails on minor spelling discrepancies.

3. Unlocking Locked Appraisals and Profile Re-Verification

Until the leadership transfer is finalized, peer appraisals and crop data submitted under the former admin remain inaccessible for editing or approval. To prevent delays in issuing group scope certificates, the RC must re-grant administrative access to the active profile.

Manually updating group leadership across multiple groups requires significant administrative time. Verifying leader Aadhaar details, checking meeting minutes, and updating portal fields takes about 15 minutes per group. For an RC managing 10 local groups, this takes 2.5 hours. For an RC overseeing 100 local groups across multiple districts, administrative processing requires over 25 hours of manual data entry per cycle.

To manually restore access to locked appraisals, execute these steps:

  1. Access the pending data entry tab under the RC dashboard.
  2. Locate the locked peer appraisal reports associated with the former group leader's user ID.
  3. Use the administrative permissions menu to apply a PGS India change admin permissions action, shifting ownership of the pending appraisals to the new LG leader.
  4. Verify that the new leader can view, edit, and submit the pending peer appraisals from their updated login profile.
  5. Issue an updated status confirmation once all pending records are successfully reassigned.

Executing leadership updates promptly ensures uninterrupted compliance tracking for organic groups across regions. KrushiFlow validates these fields and submits farmer records to the portal in bulk.

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