New Delhi, Jan 7 (PTI) The Rural Development Ministry on Tuesday signed an MoU with the Department of Posts which will institutionalise convergence for expanding financial services, logistics and market
access in rural areas.
A second MoU to facilitate testing of pesticide samples was also signed by Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
The first MoU brings together the extensive grassroots institutional network of Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) and the nationwide reach of India Post, including over 1.5 lakh rural post offices, India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) and a large network of Dak Sevaks, the Rural Development Ministry said.
This convergence will enable delivery of integrated financial and logistics services to self-help groups (SHGs), women entrepreneurs, rural enterprises, and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), and will promote adoption of savings, deposits, insurance and pension products of India Post among SHG households, the ministry said.
Speaking at the event, Chouhan said over 2.82 crore women SHG workers are now 'Lakhpati Didis', and soon the target of having three crore women SHG workers earning over Rs 1 lakh a year would be achieved.
He said the MoUs will bring new opportunities for them.
"With India Post, the banking facilities would be taken to every village and home," he said.
Chouhan said poor-quality pesticides are a huge problem for farmers, and said the new system being created for testing pesticide samples would help the farmers. The minister said the government is working on bringing soon a 'Pesticide Act', which would provide for stringent punishment for those selling poor quality pesticides.
"One of the biggest problems of farmers is bad quality pesticides, seeds and fertilisers. This is something that destroys their hard work.
"We take samples, but that is also tampered with at times. After this MoU, no one would be able to tamper with the samples of pesticides," Chouhan said.
"We are also trying to bring the Pesticide Act soon which would provide for stringent punishment for bad quality pesticides. We are also working on the Seeds Act," he said.
Scindia highlighted that the India Post has the largest distribution and logistics channel all over the world, with around 1.60 lakh points of presence in the form of post offices, out of which 1.40 lakh are present in rural areas.
"The first MOU that we signed today was on how to protect the productivity of our farmers and their crops. Artificial pesticides harm farmers.
"At present, it takes 10-15 days to send pesticide samples for testing. According to this MoU, there will be a QR code on every sample, tracking will be done and for the preservation of samples, even temperature requirements will be fixed. Within 48-72 hours, those samples would be sent for testing," Scindia said.
He said the second MOU would provide more impetus to the Lakhpati Didi scheme. All Didis will be connected with India Post Payment Banks, he said.
"They would be trained, provided electronic tablets, point of sale machines, certificates would be provided, and the women would be able to earn Rs 15,000-30,000 per month," he said.
The Rural Development Ministry said the MoU is expected to significantly enhance financial inclusion, improve market access and create sustainable livelihood opportunities for rural women and entrepreneurs, contributing to inclusive growth and the vision of 'Viksit Bharat'.
The Mission will identify and nurture SHG women as Business Correspondents, facilitating their training, certification and deployment. India Post, through IPPB, will provide end-to-end support, including onboarding, handholding, technology-enabled monitoring dashboards and exploration of customised insurance solutions, thereby deepening last-mile financial access in rural areas.
The partnership will also unlock new market opportunities for women-led SHG enterprises by integrating them with India Post's logistics ecosystem. The Mission will identify SHG and federation-level enterprises with logistics potential and support capacity-building in packaging, documentation and export readiness.
India Post will extend logistics, packaging and export facilitation services, including through Dak Niryat Kendras, and explore promotional avenues for SHG products through its extensive postal network, it added. PTI AO KSS
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