Press Trust of India, New Delhi, Jan 21: After oil, a cut in food subsidy is on the anvil as a high-level panel Wednesday suggested giving cash to beneficiaries and shifting rice and wheat procurement to states that do not have provisions for administered purchase price.
Food Corporation of India (FCI), the Union government’s nodal agency for procurement and distribution of foodgrains, should focus on eastern states, leaving bulk purchase to stateagencies in Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, the panel suggested in its report submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Also, it wants grain storage to be outsourced to private and government agencies like state-owned Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) and state warehousing corporations. The eight-member panel, set up in August 2014 under the chairmanship of BJP MP Shanta Kumar, to recommend a complete overhaul of the way FCI functions.
“The Prime Minister has asked the department of food and public distribution to expeditiously give its comments on the report so that it can be implemented in a time-bound manner,” an official statement said. Ashok Gulati, a member of this panel, made a presentation on various recommendations. Food minister Ram Vilas Paswan was present. According to highly-placed sources, the panel has suggested that “FCI should hand over procurement to six states like Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa for wheat and rice.”
The committee recommended that FCI procurement should focus on eastern belt, where farmers do not get MSP. The Centre has also launched a scheme to achieve the second green revolution in the easter states, including Bihar, Jharkhand, With states imposing higher mandi taxes on wheat and rice, the panel favoured uniform tax of minimum 3 per cent and maximum 4 per cent and the same to be included in the minimum support price (MSP).
