Revitalization of Rivers in India Draft Policy - Isha Guru Jaggi Vasudev

Revitalization of Rivers In India
Draft Policy Recommendation
However, fruits and vegetables are outside the purview of the Act. The rationale
for this is that the marketing system was earlier dominated by Government-led
APMCs. The Act facilitates new markets in the private sector. The farmer has a
choice and is not bound by any single market. At present, on average there is only
one mandi per 465 square kilometers, thus entailing high transport costs for the
farmer. Under the new Act, even the cold chain, cold storages, dry storages and
silos where commodities are stored by farmers can be notified as markets. This
enables the farmer to access a mandi or a market place as close as possible to his/
her farm gate and then discover a price for his/her commodity. (S)he can go to
any market at any place and sell to any buyer, so as to realize a better price. The
objective is also to give the farmer the highest possible share of the market price
through disintermediation. Intermediaries are removed unless they are adding
some particular value to the produce which is transferred to the consumer.
The Act provides for regulation of markets within the government sector and
private sector. The roles and responsibilities of two authorities are distinguished
at the state level. One is the Managing Director of the Marketing Board who
will serve as the CEO of all the APLMs which are government led. The Managing
Director’s role is to look after government markets and create an efficient system.
The second is a regulator in the nature of a Director, Agriculture Marketing who
will be the regulating authority. (S)he will give licenses, renew the licenses and
regulate and ensure that all marketing channels, Government or private, adhere
to the provisions of the new Act. The Director in a state can allow the licensee of
another state to participate in the transaction within his/her own state. Multiple
channels would have a level playing field and there would be regulation in terms
of what fees are to be levied, how much is to be levied, and how to conduct the
trade so that there is price discovery through an open, transparent and objective
system of auction.
The Model Act facilitates the formation of a national market under the electronic
National Agriculture Market or e-NAM which was inaugurated in April 2017.
Today, as the country has been fragmented into different geographical areas,
the number of traders has got limited and competition has got compromised.
The objective of the Government is to create a state wide single market and
thereafter a nationwide single market. APMCs will no longer have the power
Annexures
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