The Hindu : National : Pawar for decentralised foodgrains procurement

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 18, 2004

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National

Pawar for decentralised foodgrains procurement

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, DEC. 17. The Union Minister for Agriculture and Food, Sharad Pawar, today underscored the need for decentralised procurement of wheat and rice to make the Targetted Public Distribution System (TPDS) cost-effective.

Addressing the members of the Consultative Committee attached to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution here on Friday, Mr. Pawar said the State Governments have been asked to procure foodgrains in their areas to meet the PDS requirement.

The off-take by the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families had increased from 44 lakh tonnes in 1997-98 to more than 199 lakh tonnes during 2003-04, including the Antodaya AnnaYojana (AAY). Under AAY, the off-take was around 86 per cent during 2001-02 and 2002-03, whereas during 2003-04 it was 70 and 91 per cent respectively; it had crossed 78 per cent in 2004-05 up to October 2004. Families availing themselves of the scheme got wheat for Rs. 2 a kg and rice for Rs. 3 a kg.

Mr. Pawar said the AAY had been expanded in 2003-04 by adding 50 lakh BPL households, bringing 1.5 crore families (23 per cent of the BPL families) into its fold.

As announced in the Union Budget, 2004-05, the scheme had been expanded by another 50 lakh families. The monthly foodgrain allocation under the scheme was around 4.9 lakh tonnes a month.

Additional roles

As a follow-up of the State Food Ministers' Conference in October 2004, the Ministry has proposed that the role of fair price shops be expanded to LPG/Kerosene oil dealership, STD booth etc.

The Ministry of Finance has been urged to consider fair price shops as a priority sector for providing bank credits.

Responding to suggestions for preventing diversion of foodgrains from ration shops, Mr. Pawar said that the Ministry had constituted `task force' teams to monitor them.

The PDS Control Order 2001 provided for constant review and updating of families for issue of ration cards and deletion of ineligible units.

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