Union Minister of Consumer Affairs Pralhad Joshi.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi announced here on Thursday that the States can directly purchase rice from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) under the Open Market Sale Scheme (Domestic) from Thursday without participating in e-auction.
According to the Centre, the decision was taken to reduce the huge surplus stocks ahead of the procurement after this kharif season.
Mr. Joshi said if the States wanted to procure more rice over the stipulated five kg of free grain per individual under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), they can procure it for ₹2,800 per quintal (excluding transportation cost), instead of the earlier rate of ₹2,900 per quintal. The Centre will directly offload rice to the States under the scheme.
Speaking on the PMGKAY, Mr. Joshi maintained that the Centre would continue to provide free foodgrains to about 81.35 crore beneficiaries for a period of five years with effect from January 1, 2024, with an estimated financial outlay of ₹ 11.80 lakh crore borne by the Centre. He said the Centre had successfully completed all three phases of replacing custom-milled rice with fortified rice in every scheme of the government. It achieved 100% coverage of distribution of fortified rice by March 2024. “Quality food and nutritious food is the top priority of the Modi government,” he said.
Vegetable price rise
On the increasing prices of vegetables, he said the issue was seasonal. Tomato price was stabilising, and the Centre had made subsidised tomato available at ₹60 a kg without the use of price stabilisation fund. On pulses, he said the sowing area had increased and there would be 100% procurement of pulses from the farmers.
He launched the 4.0 version of the Price Monitoring System (PMS) mobile app on which prices of 22 commodities were monitored daily. “Now, prices of 38 commodities will be monitored. We are now adding 16 more commodities,” he added. The 16 food items are bajra (whole), jowar (whole), ragi (whole), suji (wheat), maida (wheat), besan, ghee, butter (pasteurised), brinjal, egg, black pepper, coriander, cumin seed, red chillies, turmeric powder and banana.
