Centre nod to bring 585 mandis to online space

The Narendra Modi-led NDA government has okayed to bring 585 mandis on the online platform by the end of 12th Five Year Plan. According to officials in the Agriculture Ministry, the setting up of an online national agriculture market will provide more options to farmers for selling their products.

“The agriculture ministry will set up an online platform wherein farmers would be able to sell and buy fruits, vegetables and other products from across the country. The cabinet has approved setting up of 585 online mandis,” a source said. According to sources, in the first phase, the Ministry has set a target to bring 250 mandis on the online platform in the year 2015 and in the next year, 200 mandis would be brought to online platform, while in the final stage 135 mandis would be converted into online mode in the year 2017.

However, the grain merchants have opposed the decision of the Centre to set up online national agriculture market. Talking to Millennium Post, Ramesh Chandra Lahoti, who heads Grain Merchants’ Association of Bengaluru, said, “We strongly oppose this move of the government which has been taken without considering its side-effects. As per the existing practice, a trader buys the produce after physically verifying the quality of the product, but in the online route, there is no surety that what kind of product will be finally delivered.” He further added that there is no clear policy of the government that on the delivery of bad quality of products, who will be accountable for that.

Currently, farmers are restricted to sell their products at mandis or market committees that charge various taxes on producers. An agency would be set up to oversee online trading and to ensure that transactions take place smoothly. It will also focus on creating godowns and facilitating transportation of the farm produce after the online trade.