The Hindu : Front Page : Sharp cut in Kerala's wheat quota

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 03, 2006

Front Page

Front Page

Sharp cut in Kerala's wheat quota

C. Gouridasan Nair

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The new LDF Government in Kerala has received a body blow from the Central Government in the form of a sharp cut in the State's wheat quota for June, from 46,190 tonnes to a mere 19,113 tonnes.

The decision will affect both Above Poverty Line (APL) and Below Poverty Line (BPL) cardholders and has been taken without consulting the State Government.

The State had received 37,325 tonnes of wheat in May meant for distribution to APL cardholders and 8,865 tonnes for distribution among BPL cardholders. At 11,777 tonnes, the quota for APL cardholders for June is only roughly one-third of the quota for May. In the case of BPL cardholders, the reduction is by 1,529 tonnes from May to 7,336 tonnes.

The Union Food Secretary's letter communicating the Central decision to cut the State's quota of wheat (No. 1-1/2006-BP III (14) dated 23/05/2006) was received here on May 27. Director of Civil Supplies V. R. Padmanabhan issued the proceedings based on the Central communication on May 30.

The Union Food Secretary has cited shortage of wheat in the Central pool as the reason for the cut in Kerala's wheat quota. It has effected the cut taking into account the average of wheat quota for the State for the last three years and the off-take during the period and opting for the figure that is the lesser of the two. Kerala has suffered in the process because the off-take has been less during the period.

The low off-take is attributed to the poor stocks with the Food Corporation of India (FCI), the nodal agency through which wheat is routed to the States. The average stock with the FCI is purely theoretical in nature as the FCI, according to sources in the know of things, never keeps the stocks shown on paper. What it does is to release the BPL quota from the available stocks and play truant when it comes to APL quota wheat. This, it is said, would have come to light if the actual monthly stocks with the FCI during the last three years were scrutinised.

In a way, Kerala's plight now is on account of the manner in which it had managed the PDS system.

Had the State monitored the actual wheat stocks with the FCI, which has 12 depots for the 14 districts, and ensured full release of wheat under both APL and BPL quota, Kerala would have fared better in a comparison of relative averages.

That the cut in wheat quota has come during the monsoon months has made it a double blow for the State and is likely to push up open market prices.

Going by the Civil Supplies Director's proceedings for June, Thiruvanantahapuram would get only 1,200 tonnes of wheat in June against 4,050 tonnes in May and Ernakulam only 1,300 tonnes against 4,400 tonnes. Kozhikode would get only 1,000 tonnes in June against 3,630 tonnes in May.

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