Lok Sabha Question No. 1469 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-12
Subject: Functioning of e-NAM
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: GAURAV GOGOI, RAVNEET SINGH

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, COOPERATION AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1469

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 12 TH  FEBRUARY, 2019

## FUNCTIONING OF E-NAM

1469.   SHRI GAURAV GOGOI: SHRI RAVNEET SINGH:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी be pleased to state:

- (a) the  number  of  new  e-Mandis  which  were  integrated  onto  the  e-NAM  Mandi  platform since March 31st, 2018;
- (b) whether  the  Government  has  the  capacity  to  cater  to  all  1.11  crore  farmers  that  are registered on the e-NAM platform, if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Government is on track to achieve its target of linking 2200 mandis by 2022, if so, the details of the same;
- (d) the budgetary outlay of this scheme;
- (e) the number of districts currently utilising e-NAM, especially the districts in Punjab;
- (f) whether the Government has told all the States to start applying e-NAM to their districts, if so, the details of the same; and
- (g) whether  e-NAM  has  reduced  the  prices  of  pulses,  oilseeds,  etc.,  if  so,  the  details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंालय म राय मंी SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT)

(a) to (d): So  far,    585  mandis  have  been    commissioned  in  16  States  and  02  Union Territories  (UTs)  on  National Agriculture  Market (e-NAM) which  were commissioned  by 31st March, 2018.  The e-NAM is a virtual online trading platform connecting mandis for facilitating competitive  and  transparent  price  discovery  for  remunerative  prices  to  the  farmers  for  their produce.

More than 1.45 crore farmers have been registered on e-NAM platform so far and  the Government has full capacity to cater all the farmers registered under e-NAM.  The  platform is working smoothly through the National Informatics Centre (NIC) cloud servers, while requisite infrastructure & other provisions as required from time to time for e-NAM operations are being provided by the concerned States/Union Territories (UTs) in their respective e-NAM mandis.

Continue….2/-

No such target of linking 2200 mandis by year 2022 has been set by the government. However,  in  the  Union  Budget  2018-19,  Government  has  announced  upgradation  and development  of  existing  22,000  village  haats  to  Gramin  Agriculture  Market  (GrAMs)  through convergence  of  various  schemes  such  as  Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural  Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and others. The GrAMs are to be exempted from Agricultural Produce  Market  Committees  (APMCs)  regulations  and  linked  to  e-NAM.    These  GrAMs  are intended to facilitate farmers in selling their produce to direct buyers.

Since  inception  of  the  scheme,  Rs.333.46  crore  has  been  released  to  the  State/UT Governments under  e-NAM scheme.

(e): The total number of districts in the country utilizing e-NAM is 320 Number of districts utilizing e-NAM in Punjab is 13.

(f): Three  reforms  are  mandatory  for  States/UTs  in  their  respective  State  Agricultural Produce  Market  Committee  (APMC)  Acts  for  integrating  their  mandis with e-NAM  i.e. (i) provision of e-trading, (ii) single point levy of market fee (iii) unified single trading license for the  state.  States  without  APMC  Act  need  to  provide  legally  enforceable  guidelines  and institutional  mechanism  for  implementing  e-NAM.  In  this  regard,  operational  guidelines  have been circulated to States/UTs.  Government of India has been persuading States to propose for e-NAM integration in their markets after meeting mandated requirements.

(g): The main objective of e-NAM is to facilitate price discovery in a transparent manner to ensure remunerative prices to the farmers through competitive bidding system which gets more competitive with inter-mandi and inter-state participation of traders. So far, no specific study has been conducted to assess the impact of e-NAM in reducing prices of agri-commodities including pulses and oilseeds.

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