To curb pilferage in the Public Distribution System (PDS), the food ministry on Thursday said it favoured direct cash transfer (DBT) of food subsidy “in principle” and suggested implementation of the scheme on a pilot basis in Chandigarh and Puducherry.
After submitting the food ministry’s report on the recommendation of a high-level committee (HLC) chaired by former food minister Shanta Kumar to Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), food minister Ram Vilas Pawan said, “We favour DBT for PDS, but the issue has to be discussed extensively before arriving at a concrete proposal on it.”
“If we transfer cash, beneficiary can buy grain from the open market. Then what would happen to our procurement operation and what will we do with procured grain and our storage facilities. We need to think about this before implementing it on larger scale,” Paswan noted. The ministry has suggested implementation of the cash transfer on a pilot basis in Chandigarh and Puducherry.
Paswan said some of the panel suggestions are being implemented, accordingly the Food Corporation of India (FCI) will stop rice and wheat procurement in Haryana from April, while in Punjab from next year.
At present, FCI purchases a smaller quantity of grain from Punjab and Haryana as the purchased operations are largely managed by the state agencies.
As per official data, the FCI had purchased around 8 lakh tonne of wheat against the total procurement of 64.95 lakh tonne in Haryana. In Punjab, FCI purchased 18.58 lakh tonne wheat from the total purchase of 116.41 lakh tonne in 2014-15 season.
On shifting grain procurement to eastern states like Bihar, Paswan said, “FCI does not have infrastructure and manpower. So, states should come forward to procure and the Centre is ready to give assistance.”
On procurement of those commodities, on which the government announces minimum support price, Paswan said, “Ideally, we should procure. Normally, the market rates of pulses and oilseeds are higher than the MSP. FCI is ready to buy pulses and oilseeds if prices fall below MSP.”
On fixing of uniform mandi taxes at 3-4% as recommended by the panel, Paswan said barring West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, other states have opposed to this suggestion.
On reducing the coverage of National Food Security Act (NFSA), Paswan said, “We have rejected the panel’s recommendation to reduce the coverage of beneficiary to 40% of the population from the existing 67% under the food law,” Paswan said.
