MNS:- Ensuring food security to the people of the country has been one of the most important areas of focus for the Government. In order to be in a state of readiness to deliver provisions of proposed National Food Security Bill there is urgent need to strengthen Public Distribution System. This was stated by Prof. K.V. Thomas, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution at the Conference of Food Ministers of States on here today.
He said that the country has witnessed record production of foodgrains in recent years. As a result, our granaries are full, still cases of shortage in availability of foodgrains are reported time to time which shows some shortfall in our distribution system. Urging the Food Ministers to regularly review the off take at their level, Prof. Thomas said that during the current year, record allocations of 253.96 lakh tonnes have been made upto September, 2012 but offtake against the allocations is a matter of concern. Infact it not only leads to denial of subsidized foodgrains to the targeted beneficiaries, it also accentuates the storage problem and adversely affects the subsequent procurements of foodgrains, he added.
Stressing upon the need for creation of adequate storage facilities at all levels for safe storage of foodgrains, Prof. Thomas said that rotting of foodgrains, though sporadic, needs to be avoided at all costs. He said that Food Ministry is implementing Private Entrepreneurs Guarantee (PEG) Scheme. Under the Scheme, a capacity of 181.08 lakh tonnes is to be created in 19 States through private entrepreneurs and Central and State Warehousing Corporations. For each State, nodal agencies have been designated and all assistance is required to be provided by the State so that the capacities allotted can be completed within a reasonable time frame. At present, about 31 lakh tonnes of storage capacity has been completed under the scheme, and 20.55 lakh tonnes has been taken over. A cumulative capacity of 73 lakh tonnes is targeted to be completed by March, 2013. There is need to ensure that planned capacities are created in stipulated time, without any slippages, and put to use, he said. He also highlighted the need for creation of intermediate storage facilities, especially for public distribution purposes, under the Gramin Bhandaran Yojana of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperation and Rural Infrastructure Development Fund of NABARD.
Union Food Minister said that checking leakages and diversion of foodgrains has been a challenge for the successful implementation of the public distribution system, a number of steps have been taken to address this problem. He said Use of technology can play a big role in this and some States especially Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have taken commendable steps in computerisation of various PDS operations. The Central Government intend to deploy ICT tools in a big way and a blueprint for end-to-end Computerization of TPDS Operations has been prepared. As a first step in this direction, a scheme covering Digitization of ration cards/beneficiaries and other databases, Computerization of Supply-Chain Management, Setting up of Transparency Portal and Grievance Redressal mechanism has been approved for implementation on cost sharing basis with States. He solicited cooperation of states in successful implementation of this scheme
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/food-ministers-meet-to-review-pds/
