Context: The Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets (General) has been amended by the department of Agriculture and farmers welfare of Punjab to allow the setting up of such private mandis.

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• A special market yard can also be set up, in a small enclosure or building, for a particular commodity such as fish, milk etc.
• Private market yards can also be set up on a minimum of 10 acres, and a producer and consumer market yard on a minimum one acre.
• The Kisan mandis and E-trading platforms for spot marketing have also been allowed to be set up.

About setting up of private mandis:

• The owner of the mandi would provide the entire infrastructure, including the basic Sanitation facilities.
• The private entities have to be owners of the land where they would b setting up the mandi or they can even take it on a lease for a minimum of 30 years.
• The ‘Arhtiya Association of Punjab’ has opposed this move as they fear that the move would reduce their influence in the Agricultural mandis. They fear that the government is moving towards the MSP free regime.

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