What happened
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said eSaras, a government-backed digital commerce platform, is connecting rural producers with buyers across India. The platform is developed by the Digital India Corporation under MeitY in collaboration with the Ministry of Rural Development and is implemented under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM).
The release places eSaras within the eleventh year of the Digital India programme and presents it as an example of digital public infrastructure being used for inclusive growth and rural livelihoods.
Background and earlier position
DAY-NRLM already had a large Self-Help Group ecosystem before the current update. The release states that the programme covers over 8.99 crore registered SHG members, making it one of the world's largest women-led livelihood ecosystems.
The eSaras platform was launched as a web portal on 28 October 2022 and as an Android app on 28 June 2023. The release also says the platform is the official e-commerce platform of the Ministry of Rural Development under DAY-NRLM.
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