NEW DELHI: In view of low stocks, the Centre has imposed a 25 per cent cut in wheat allocation for the Above Poverty line (APL) population under the targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) for rice-consuming States and in Delhi.

The Food and Public Distribution Ministry has rationalised the allocation, restricting the quota to each State's average offtake in the last three years or last year's offtake "whichever was lower."

The Government told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Food and Consumer Affairs that a proposal made in January for reducing the APL monthly allocation from 35 to 20 kg a household and to raise the Central issue price of foodgrains for this category did not find favour with several State Governments and political parties. Consequently, the proposal was put on hold.

However, the committee, chaired by the former Food Minister Devendra Prasad Yadav, was not impressed with the Government's reasoning for including the APL in the TPDS, despite wheat stocks having dwindled last year.

It expressed its displeasure at the Centre not accepting its recommendation to totally bar the APL population so that the TDPS remained "targeted" on the poor.

Report in Parliament

In its report tabled in Parliament, the committee disagreed with the government view that removal of APL population from the TPDS would adversely affect beneficiaries in States, including the northeast, where the APL offtake was sizable.

It suggested that foodgrains saved by excluding the APL population be made available to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) population.

Subsidy only for poor

The panel said food subsidy was designed for the poor and vulnerable sections, which could not afford to buy foodgrains from the open market.

Further, the APL population did not require subsidy at the BPL levels to sustain its livelihood.

On the one hand, the Government imported 55 lakh tonnes of wheat to replenish dwindling stocks and thereby manage and operate the TPDS and other welfare schemes. On the other, it continued to fritter away the foodgrains among the "undeserving" APL population with a heavy subsidy component involved.

Hinting that the decision to postpone raising the issue price of foodgrains and cutting allocations for the APL was political, the panel said it was based on "considerations other than sound economic sense."

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