No proposal to hike food grains' rates under NFSA, says Union Minister Piyush Goyal

The Centre on Thursday said there was no proposal to increase the prices of food grains sold at fair price shops under the National Food Security Act.

“There is no proposal before the ministry to increase the prices of foodgrains under the NFSA,” Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters here.

The Economic Survey, presented to Parliament on January 29, had recommended increasing the prices of foodgrains sold at fair price shops under NFSA as the food subsidy Bill had become “unmanageably large”.

Under the NFSA, the Centre provides food grains at highly subsidised rates of Rs 3 per kg for rice, Rs 2 per kg for wheat and Rs 1 per kg for coarse grains through the Public Distribution System (PDS). In a bid to cut out the middlemen in the procurement of farm produce, the Centre is also pushing for reforms by introducing bio-authentication of farmers before purchasing their produce.

“Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are keen to adopt bio-authenticated procurement which will ensure transparency, tracking the end-user beneficiary,” Edwin Majhi, Additional Secretary, Department of Food and Public Distribution said.

He said Uttar Pradesh has brought the comprehensive data of farmers in the states online with details such as total landholding and crops sown.

“The payment for the crop procured is deposited in the bank accounts of farmers within 72 hours, thus eliminating the need for Food Corporation of India to raise loans from a consortium of banks,” Majhi said.