NEW DELHI: Union home and cooperation minister Amit Shah Tuesday directed Nafed and National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation to procure “every single grain” of pulses and oilseeds directly from farmers “with complete transparency, eliminating the entire network of middlemen,” and ensure that income reaches farmers’ bank accounts within 48 hours.“This will ensure fair and remunerative prices for farmers, automatically increase the area under pulse cultivation, and make the country self-reliant in pulses,” he said while addressing the launch of four Nafed initiatives, including a digital auctioning platform.Setting a two-year deadline, Shah said it will be ensured that all farmers are able to sell pulses directly to these two organisations within the next two years and receive payment directly into their bank accounts.Nafed launched including its auction portal ‘NAFEX.in’ to ensure enhanced transparency, efficiency and ease of operations in the auction process. The other three include Nafed-KALYAN scholarship for children of farmers, DRISHTI portal for inventory management of pulses and oilseeds, and ERP portal for strengthening enterprise resource planning.The Union minister said Nafed has decided to earmark 1% of its profits for scholarships for higher education and career development of children from farmer families. “This…will help address the difficulties faced by farmers’ children in pursuing higher education…” he said.
