Govt will develop e-commerce platform for products made by women SHGs in villages: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday the government will develop an e-commerce platform for the products made by women self-help groups (SHGs) in villages. Addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the occasion of 75th Independence Day, Modi said the government has also awakened the aspirations of those districts which were believed to have been left behind in the development journey.

“We are promoting roads, healthcare, education, employment and nutrition in over 110 Aspirational Districts that were lacking on the development matrix. Many of these districts are in tribal areas

“We are working hard to ensure these districts reach the level of all other districts in India,” the prime minister said.

In the last few years, villages have been rapidly changing and have been provided with facilities like roads and electricity, he said.

Talking about the digital connectivity in rural areas, Modi said now the villages are connected with optical fibre network. Internet is reaching villages and digital entrepreneurs are being prepared in villages too.

Praising women self-help groups, Modi said there are more than eight crore women in the villages who are associated with them.

These women make various products and now the government will prepare an e-commerce platform for their products to get a big market in the country and abroad, he said.

The government is now looking at substituting some oil by one that is produced from sugarcane and other bio-materials. It is looking to supply petrol mixed with 20 per cent ethanol by 2023-24, up from the current 8 per cent.

Also, the government is looking at raising the share of natural gas in the economy to 15 per cent by 2030 from the current 6.2 per cent.

On Sunday, Modi said the roadmap for making India self-reliant in energy is clear — “promoting a gas-based economy, a pan-India network of CNG and piped natural gas and achieving 20 per cent ethanol blending target.”

“India has also moved towards electric mobility,” he said.

While electric vehicles gain currency, Indian Railways is also moving towards 100 per cent electrification.

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Out of the target of setting up 450 gigawatts of electricity generation capacity from renewable sources by 2030, India has already achieved 100 GW ahead of schedule, he said.

In line with the government’s focus on hydrogen, both private and public sector companies have announced ambitious hydrogen projects.

While Reliance Industries and Adani Group are pushing ahead with their plans to make hydrogen a part of their portfolio, the nation’s biggest state-run refiner IOC has also unveiled hydrogen plans.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is working on technology to develop hydrogen-spiked compressed natural gas or H-CNG.