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Rural haats offer solution for logjam to foreign direct investmentRURAL HAATS OFFER SOLUTION FOR LOGJAM TO FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT Indian HAATS are the world’s biggest rural market catering to ..... |
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03-08-2012
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Rural haats offer solution for logjam to foreign direct investment
RURAL HAATS OFFER SOLUTION FOR LOGJAM TO FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT Indian HAATS are the world’s biggest rural market catering to 10 percent of the world population. There are 47,000 of them in comparison to 35,000 supermarkets in the USA, and its annual turnover, estimated in 1995 was Rupees 100,000 crore. This is more than three times turnover of the country’s organized retail sector in 2011. The functionalities of HAATS make them the most democratic market. Small producers set up their shops 2.5 million times a year in over 600,000 villages in India. 62 percent of these villages are home to less 1,000 people and a substantial number of them do not have retail shops in a fixed place. Thus haats are the sole place for sale and purchase. Unfortunately, haats have not caught the deserved attention. India has a long history of crafting programmes to create marketing infrastructure for local producers, mostly farmers.The new market bodies cater to big farmers,leaving out the small producers. As per the estimate by the Planning Commission, 21,000 haats do not have any support from bodies like panchayats and marketing committees that look after agriculture produce. Haats can be made more competitive which will ensure high price for the produce. In Jharkhand, India ; Swadhina a NGO; has replicated the traditional markets in villages without access to them. It made self-help-groups in charge of setting haats. With minimal investment they created the infrastructure to start the weekly market.The sellers pay a small tax that look after maintenance.The impact has been phenomenal. The villages have got rid of exploitative traders.In fact people earn more than by working under public wage programmes like MNREGA. It is time we reclaimed our retail democracy to ward off the threats of free market. |
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