(a) whether the Ashok Dalwai Committee on doubling farmers’ income has recommended that steps should be taken for advancing and promoting rural retail markets through upgrading the existing over 20,000 rural periodical markets as Primary Rural Agricultural Markets;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether the Government has taken/is taking the necessary policy initiatives in this regard; and
(d) if so, the details thereof?
MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
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(a) & (b): The Ashok Dalwai Committee on doubling farmers’ income has recommended that “the effectiveness of an efficient marketing system can be gained by upgrading the existing more than 20,000 rural periodical markets as Primary Rural (grameen) Agricultural Markets (GRAMs)”.
(c) & (d): The Government has already taken measures for development of physical infrastructure/ basic facilities in existing rural haats under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). The Government has also approved an Agri-Market Infrastructure Fund (AMIF) with a corpus of Rs. 2000 crore with National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD) for developing and upgrading agricultural marketing infrastructure in 10,000 Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs) and 585 Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) Markets and circulated the Scheme Guidelines to the States/Union Territories (UTs) for submission of proposals/ Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) to avail assistance under AMIF. Further Government has circulated a Operational Guideline on “Operation and Management of Gramin Agricultural Market“ to States/UTs for smooth operation of GrAMs.
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