Saras Collection | 05 May 2020

Why in News

Recently, the Indian government launched the Saras Collection on the Government e Marketplace (GeM) portal.

• It is a unique initiative by the GeM, Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) and Ministry of Rural Development.

Key Points

• The Saras Collection showcases daily utility products made by rural Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and aims to provide SHGs in rural areas with market access to Central and State Government buyers.
• The on-boarding of the SHGs has been initially piloted in the states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
  
  • SHGs from all the states and Union Territories (UTs) will be covered rapidly in the upcoming phases.
• The Saras Collection will provide SHGs with direct access to Government buyers which will do away with intermediaries in the supply chain, thus ensuring better prices for SHGs and spurring employment opportunities at the local level.
• Mechanisms:
  
  • For Functionaries: They will be provided dashboards at the national, state, district and block level for real time information about the number of products uploaded, their value and volume of orders received and fulfilled.
  • Government buyers: They will be sensitized through system generated messages/ alerts in the Marketplace about availability of SHG products on the portal.
• GeM will collaborate with State functionaries to address the capacity building and training needs of SHGs and build up their competencies required for order packaging, catalogue management and logistics.
• GeM will develop online learning resources in vernacular content for SHGs with inputs and assistance from the NRLM and the State Rural Livelihoods Missions (SRLMs).
• For a seamless learning experience, GeM will conduct online webinars, develop videos, eBooks, manual and repository of FAQs.

Government e-Marketplace

• GeM is a one-stop National Public Procurement Portal to facilitate online procurement of common use goods and services required by various central and state government departments/organizations/public sector undertakings (PSUs).
• It was launched in 2016 to bring transparency and efficiency in the government buying process.
• It has been developed by Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (Ministry of Commerce and Industry) with technical support of National e-governance Division (Ministry of Electronic and Information Technology).
• It functions under Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (DGS&D), Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• The procurement of goods and services by Ministries and the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) is mandatory for goods and services available on GeM.
• It also provides the tools of e-bidding and reverse e-auction to facilitate the government users achieve the best value for their money.
• GeM is a completely paperless, cashless and system driven e-market place that enables procurement of common use goods and services with minimal human interface.

Source: PIB