Prof Thomas Reviews Public Distribution System in NE

Unlike the Public Distribution System in Gaya, PDS in the Northeastern part of the country is not properly functional. It is true that the above statement is not true for all states but there are some where people are unable to make good use of the system.

This is not in a way related to PDS Gaya but we placed this news in front of you to let you know what other states and districts are going through. Keeping in view the situation of the Public Distribution System in the Northeastern states, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Prof K.V. Thomas, chaired a meeting of Food Ministers and Food Secretaries of North Eastern States at Guwahati on the 29^th of September 2011 with particular reference to availability of foodgrains and augmenting the storage facilities in the region.

Shri Neiphiu Rio, Chief Minster, Nagaland, Dr. Nazrul Islam, Minister Food and Civil Supplies, Assam and Shri Nilamoni Sen Deka, Minister of Agriculture, Assam and Sh. H. Rolhuna Minister Food and Civil Supplies, Mizoram were present in the meeting while other states were represented by senior officials in charge of the Departments.

Union Food Secretary, Dr B C Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director of Food Corporation Of India (FCI) Shri Siraj Hussain, MD of Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), Shri B B Patnayak, were also present in the meeting.

Prof. Thomas, in his opening remarks said that the meeting was part of the Ministry’s ongoing interaction with the States and referred to the four Regional Meetings that he had convened in the month of February and the subsequent meetings with the Food Ministers and Food Secretaries of producing and consuming States held in July this year, ‘Since the problems faced by the North Eastern States are somewhat different from other states, I thought to have a separate meeting for NE States, as this Region is the corner-stone of Government of India’s Look East Policy’ he said. He also said that the Government of India has taken up various schemes for all round development of this region having abundant natural resources.

The Minister said that the focus of the Government of India has been to ensure availability of foodgrains at reasonable prices especially to the weaker and vulnerable sections of the society. The Government is determined to enact the National Food Security Act which will provide a statutory basis for a framework which assures food security for all and entitles every family below the poverty line to certain quantities of foodgrains at subsidized prices. The Minister said that the draft Bill has been placed on the website of the Department inviting suggestions from all stake holders by 30th September and requested all the State Governments to send their comments immediately, if not already sent. The legislation will also be used to bring about broader systemic reforms in the Public Distribution System, he said.

Regarding the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), launched in June, 1997, he said that it has played an important role in making available foodgrains at subsidized prices to the poor and vulnerable sections in this country. In this regard, he emphasized that the performance of PDS was the joint responsibility of the Government of India and respective state governments and called upon the states to plug loopholes in PDS and ensure that leakages are brought to the lowest minimum and ensure that grain reaches to its real deserving consumer by appropriate and innovative use of the available technology and better computerization.

Regarding allocation of Foodgrains to the North eastern States, he said that the Government of India has made substantial allocation of foodgrains during last year as well as in the current year for distribution to TPDS beneficiaries. While allocations of foodgrains for BPL families are made @35kg per family per month, and for APL families, the allocations differ from 15kg to 35kg in various States, he said that for all North Eastern States, the monthly APL allocation is also made @35kg per family as a special case. During the current year, an additional allocation of 10 million tons of rice and wheat for BPL and APL families have been made at subsidized BPL and APL prices, and requested the states to ensure that the timely lifting of foodgrains.

On the important issue of Storage facilities in the North Eastern States, the Minister said that a proposal for construction of storage godowns, totaling 5.4 lakh tonnes of capacity at a total estimated cost of Rs.568 crore has been approved by the Department, in addition to a special provision of 24 crores to be given as grant for the construction of intermediary godowns by the state Government. The Planning Commission had supported the proposed augmentation of storage capacity in the North East. In the proposal there were 8 ongoing projects and 39 new projects were identified and requested the State Governments to give all possible assistance to the FCI for identifying the lands for construction of godowns.

The state Governments on their part said that due to constraints on railway movement, (closure of transshipment at Rangia) and provisioning of insufficient Rakes, sufficient stakes are not available, sometime, in the region. Minister said that al efforts are being made by the Government of India and FCI to increase movement including road movement to ensure timely availability of sufficient stocks.

Concern was also expressed by some states on the availability of sugar in their states. It was informed that a number of rakes have been dispatched from producing States to make available requisite quantities of sugar in this region.

The States also took up the issue of outstanding hill transport subsidy under which dues were pending for them. FCI and States were requested to mutually settle the issue in accordance with existing guidelines of FCI and the Government of India.

Certain issues, specific to individual state governments were also taken up during the meeting, which included the following. Government of Assam was requested to sort land related issue at the earliest at Changsari where 1 lakh capacity of new storage is to be constructed. Similarly, The Government of Assam was also requested to start procurement of Paddy from farmers of the states under the Decentralized Procurement System (DCP) in view of higher production in the States as this could lead to better ensuring of provision of Minimum Support Price to farmers.

The above news has been taken from the Press Information Bureau Website and is posted in our blog to make the people understand what's going on in and around the Public Distribution System of the country. However, to know more about PDS, you may visit PDS Gaya website.