Ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, on Thursday, stated that by April 1, 2016, the National Food Security Act (NFSA) will be implemented by all states with 100% digitisation of ration cards, which will be achieved soon along with online grievance redressal being introduced in all 36 states and Union territories.
“The government has achieved significant milestones in the reforms of PDS by making it more transparent and leakproof during the last 19 months. Number of states providing Rs 2/kg wheat and Rs 3/kg rice has increased to 25 from 11 during last year and it is likely to be implemented in all the states by April 1,” said Ram Vilas Paswan, Union minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution, while briefing the media about programmes, policies and future roadmap of his ministries.
Paswan said that digitisation of ration cards was one of the important components for making PDS leakproof, 97% cards across the country have been digitised, and soon 100% will be digitised. “All the 36 states/UTs have online system for redressal of PDS grievances now. Direct Cash Transfer of food subsidy to the beneficiaries started in Chandigarh and Puducherry in September this year,” he stated.
The minister stated that by April the NFS Act was likely to be implemented in all remaining states and UTs. In order to check leakage and diversions and facilitate Direct Cash Transfer of food subsidy to the beneficiaries, government has notified “Cash Transfer of Food Subsidy Rules, 2015” on August 21, 2015, under NFSA. These rules provide that DBT scheme will be implemented in a state/UT with the consent of the concerned state government/UT administration. Under the scheme, in lieu of food grains subsidy, component will be credited directly into the bank accounts of beneficiaries who will be free to buy food grains from anywhere in the market.
The scheme has been launched in Chandigarh and Puducherry in September, 2015. Dadra and Nagar Haveli is also in full readiness for implementation of this pilot cash transfer/ DBT scheme. In order to provide nutritional security to the economically vulnerable sections of society and to have better targeting of “other welfare schemes” for poor, a committee of ministers set up under the chairmanship of minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution not only decided continuation of food grain allocation for Other Welfare Schemes but also recommended for providing milk and eggs – pulses and so on under the schemes.
The minister said that based on the recommendations of High Level Committee on restructuring of FCI, procurement policy for paddy was also modified to ensure reach of MSP operations to more farmers. As a result, huge paddy procurement has been made during the Kharif season. The government has also provided relief to the farmers during the year by relaxing procurement norms for their crops affected with the unprecedented rains and hailstorms.
The minister stated that sustained efforts have resulted in significant reforms in TPDS. As a result, out of 24 crore 99 lakh 95 thousand 458 cards in the country, 24 crore 17 lakh 32 thousand 202 cards have been digitised, which shows 97% achievement, soon it will be 100%.
In a bid to increase reach of minimum support price (MSP) operations to more farmers and increase procurement of paddy, the procurement policy has been modified and private firms have been allowed to procure paddy from farmers in a cluster, identified by the respective state government in the states of Assam, Bihar, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal. These states lack necessary infrastructure and experience in large-scale procurement operations and the Food Corporation of India (FCI), too, does not have a robust procurement mechanism which often forces farmers to go for distress sale. Private firms would deliver custom milled rice (CMR) at the FCI or state government-owned agency godowns.
There is huge increase in procurement of paddy in the current Kharif Marketing Season (KMS), which began on October 1, 2015. The total quantity of paddy procured in terms of rice till date is 224.80 lakh MT, which was only 174.04 lakh MT till this date during the previous KMS.
For creation of 1.5 LMT Buffer Stock of Pulses, FCI started procurement pulses from farmers at market price or MSP whichever is higher. FCI has targeted the procurement of 20,000 MT of Arhar, 2,500 MT of Urad (Total 22,500 MT) during Kharif Marketing Season 2015-16. Similarly, target has been fixed for procurement of 40,000 MT Chana and 10,000 MT of Masur (Total 50,000 MT) during Rabi Marketing Season 2015-16.
The drop in international prices of imported oils was affecting the prices of domestically produced edible oils consequent upon which farmers’ interests were affected. The department of food and public distribution had recommended an increase in the import duty. Accordingly, the import duty on crude oils has been increased from existing 7.5% to 12.5% and the import duty on refined oils from existing 15% to 20% on September 17,2015.
Reforms in FCI
To bring all operations of FCI godowns online and to check reported leakage, the “Depot Online” system was initiated in 30 sensitive depots. It will be rolled out in all the FCI-owned depots by May this year and in all other hired depots by the year- end.
The FCI has been asked to take up construction of modern silos for storage of total 100 lakh MT capacity at different locations in the country under PPP mode which will help in maintaining the quality of food grains, minimise losses and ensure rapid bulk movement of food grains.
Time-bound construction plan
2015-16- completion of 5 LMT capacity; 2016-17-completion of 15 LMT capacity; 2017-18- completion of 30 LMT capacity; 2018-19- completion of 30 LMT capacity; 2019-20- completion of 20 LMT capacity.
The minister stated that the Government of India approved sale of wheat and rice available in the Central pool above the stocking norms in the beginning of the quarter of 2015-16 under Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS), 44.81 lakh MT of wheat and 0.73 lakh MT of Grade-A rice has been sold up to January 2, 2016.
Despite 2014 and 2015 having been monsoon-deficit years, due to robust procurement arrangement made by FCI, there is more than adequate food grain stock available with the government under Central pool. As on January 1, 2016, there is 237.88 lakh MT of issuable wheat stock under Central pool. The FCI is also stepping up Open Market Sale of wheat at reasonable rates to check inflation and also to provide supplies to the private flour mills and trade. Similarly, on January 1, 2016, there is a stock of 126.89 lakh MT of rice under Central pool, which is 50.79 lakh MT more than stocking norms. This excess quantity of rice will help in meeting any contingencies arising due to monsoon deficit or natural calamities in the near future.
Besides 12 states/UTs already under Decentralised Procurement, Telangana became a new DCP state this year for procurement of rice. Andhra Pradesh and Punjab have also adopted this system partially during 2014-15 to improve the efficiency of food grains procurement and distribution operations.
Adequate supply of food grains made using multi-modal transport in North-Eastern States despite disruption in rail route due to gauge conversion from Lumding to Badarpur. Some 80,000 MT food grains moved through roads every month besides creating additional storage of 20,000 MT in the region. Food grains also inducted into Tripura via riverine route passing through Bangladesh.
Some 1,03,636 MTs of rice moved from Andhra Pradesh to Kerala for the first time through riverine/coastal movement. Government revised the buffer norms in January 2015 for better management of food grain storage. During 2015-16, both storage and transit losses have been reduced to (-) 0.03% due to storage gain in wheat and 0.39% against MoU target of 0.15% and 0.42% respectively.
Storage capacity for Central pool stocks of food grains increased to 796.08 lakh MT. New godowns having capacity of 10 lakh MT under Private Entrepreneur Guarantee Scheme (PEG) has been constructed in 20 states. Besides this, storage capacity of 62,650 MT in North-East under Plan Scheme and 1.78 lakh MT in 12 states has been added through CWC.
Some 610.50 lakh MT of food grains were allocated to states/UTs for distribution under TPDS and other welfare schemes during 2015-16 (upto Jan 18, 2016). The Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) also achieved an all-time high turnover of Rs 1,562 crore in 2014-15.
A transformation plan for the Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA) has been initiated to streamline the warehousing sector. The work on creation of IT platform and rewriting of rules and procedures has been initiated.
