SHGs products to be made available on e-commerce platforms: Anurag Thakur

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Friday said the Centre has decided to sell products made by women-associated self-help groups through e-commerce to double their income.

He addressed around 200 such self-help groups from different areas of Una district during an 'Atmanirbhar Narishakti se Samvad' (interaction with self-reliant women) programme.

Thakur said that under the National Rural Livelihood Mission, about Rs 9,000 crore has been spent by the central government to make women living in rural areas self-reliant.

He called upon the delf-help groups to take special care of the quality and packaging of the finished products so that these can compete with brands available in the market. In the future, products prepared by self-help groups will be made available on the e-commerce platforms to increase their sale, the Union minister added.

Speaking to reporters after the event, Thakur accused the Congress governments in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh of looting people and lashed out at the party's leaders for questioning the Centre over raids conducted in the states by enforcement agencies.

Turning the heat on the ruling Congress in Rajasthan, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday raided the premises of the party's state president Govind Singh Dotasra as part of a money laundering probe in an exam paper leak case and summoned Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's son and Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) president Vaibhav Gehlot in a foreign exchange violation case.

After the ED action, Gehlot alleged it was happening because the BJP does not want women, farmers and the poor in the state to get the benefit of the guarantees given by the party.

Reacting to the allegations by Gehlot and several other Congress leaders, Thakur said, "Why should no action be taken in such a situation? If there is a violation of foreign exchange, should investigation agencies not work because elections are going on in the states? If the country has to be free from corruption, then such action is the need of the hour."

Over the last few months, the federal probe agency has claimed to have unearthed a coal levy, a liquor duty and an illegal online betting app "scam" in Chhattisgarh, which has a Congress government led by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.

The ED has alleged that in all these instances, kickbacks worth crores of rupees were generated through a nexus of local politicians and bureaucrats. It has arrested a number of Indian Administrative Service officers, a police official and some others in these above-mentioned cases till now.

Assembly polls are slated to be held in Rajasthan on November 25 and Chhattisgarh on November 7 and November 17.