Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution

About Ministry

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution is a government ministry of India. The ministry is divided into two departments –

• Department of Food and Public Distribution
  1. 1. The primary policy objective of the Department of Food & Public Distribution is to ensure food security for the country through timely and efficient procurement and distribution of Food grains.
     2. This involves procurement of various Food grains, building up and maintenance of food stocks, their storage, movement and delivery to the distributing agencies and monitoring of production, stock and price levels of Food grains.
     3. The Department is also responsible for formulation of policies concerning the sugar sector such as fixing of Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane payable by Sugar factories, development and regulation of sugar industry (including training in sugar technology) and regulation of supply of free sale sugar.
     4. The Department also formulates policies on export and import of Food grains, sugar and edible oils.

• Department of Consumer Affairs
  • 1. The Department administers the policies for Consumer Cooperatives, price monitoring, essential commodity availability, consumer movement and control of statutory bodies such as the Bureau of Indian Standards(BIS) and Weights and Measures.
    2. The department regulates the availability and prescribes measures to see that the system works towards the food security of vulnerable people. This intent is to increase dignity, accountability, visibility, positive orientation and changed mind set.

DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

 

NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY ACT, 2013

Salient Features

• • Coverage – Approx. 2/3^rd of India’s population i.e. 75% in rural areas and 50% in urban areas.
  • Entitlement – “Legally guaranteed” (Right based approach) Uniform entitlement of 5 kg per person per month Entitlement of AAY beneficiaries
  • Subsidized food grains – Rs. 3/2/1 per kg for rice, wheat and coarse grains respectively.
  • Nutritional Support to women and children
    • • Pregnant women and lactating mothers (under ICDS)
      • Children in the age group of 6 months to 14 years (under Mid-Day Meal)
      • Higher nutritional norms prescribed for malnourished children upto 6 years of age.
  • Maternity Benefit – Pregnant women and lactating mothers entitled to receive maternity benefit of not less than Rs. 6,000. (Janani Suraksha Yojana + PM Matru Vandana Yojana)
  • Women Empowerment – Eldest woman of the household of age 18 years or above to be the head of the household for the purpose of issuing of ration cards.
  • Grievance Redressal Mechanism – at the District and State levels.
  • Transparency & Accountability – disclosure of records relating to PDS, social audits & setting up of Vigilance Committees.
  • Food Security Allowance – to entitled beneficiaries in case of non-supply of entitled food grains
  • Penalty – Provision for penalty on public servant or authority in case of failure to comply with the relief recommended by the District Grievance Redressal Officer.

PDS Reforms

• • Doorstep delivery of food grains
  • ICT applications and end-to-end computerisation
  • Leveraging “aadhaar” (UID) for unique identification of entitled beneficiaries
  • Full transparency of records
  • Preference to public institutions or bodies in licensing of fair price shops
  • Management of fair price shops by women or their collectives
  • Diversification of commodities distributed under the PDS
  • Full transparency of records
  • Introducing schemes such as cash transfer, food coupons or other schemes to the targeted beneficiaries in lieu of their food grain entitlements” as prescribed by the central government.

 

ANTYODAYA ANNA YOJANA (AAY)

• • Launched in 2000 under Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.

Objectives

• • To target poorest of poor population and provide them relief from hunger

Intended beneficiary

• • 5 crore households covering 38% of BPL

Salient Features

• • It covers poorest of the poor families from amongst the BPL families covered under Targeted Public Distribution System within the States and provides them food grains at a highly subsidized rate of Rs.1/ per kg coarse grains, Rs.2/ per kg. for wheat and Rs. 3/ per kg for rice.
  • In order to identify the households, the guidelines are stipulated according to the following criteria like landless agriculture labourers, marginal farmers, rural artisans /craftsmen etc. and Households headed by widows or terminally ill persons/disabled persons/ persons aged 60 years or more with no assured means of subsistence or societal support.
  • It is a part of NFSA (National Food Security Act) and the households under AAY are entitled to 35 Kg of food grains per household per month.
  • Subsidies are fully borne by the central government.
  • States/UTs are required to bear the distribution cost, including margin to dealers and retailers as well as the transportation cost.

 

TARGETED PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM (TPDS)

Objectives

• • To identify the poor households and giving them a fixed entitlement of food grains, rice and/ or wheat, at specially subsidized prices.

Intended beneficiary

• • The National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) provides for all India coverage of upto 75% of the rural population and up to 50% of the urban population of the country for receiving highly subsidized food grains. Thus, the coverage under TPDS has been delinked from the poverty estimates.

Salient Features

• • It is operated under the joint responsibility of the Central and the State/Union Territory (UT) Governments.
  • Central Government is responsible for procurement, allocation and transportation of food grains upto the designated depots of the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
  • State/UT Governments is responsible for the operational responsibilities for allocation and distribution of food grains within the States/UTs, identification of eligible beneficiaries, and issuance of ration cards to them and supervision over and monitoring of functioning of Fair Price Shops (FPSs).
  • Under National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) , the targeted households are entitled to 5kg food grains per person per month at rates Rs.1/ per kg coarse grains, Rs.2/ per kg. for wheat and Rs. 3/ per kg for rice.
  • The end retail price is fixed by the States/UTs after taking into account margin for wholesalers/ retailers, transportation charges, levies local taxes etc.

 

INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

Objectives

• • Implementation of nation-wide portability in food grains distribution.
  • Creation of national level data repository for de-duplication of beneficiary data (Aadhaar based)
  • Use of advanced data analytics techniques to bring about continuous improvements

Salient Features

• • It is a central sector scheme with following objective:
    • To integrate PDS system of States/UTs with Central System.
    • Introduction of National Portability: provide the option to PDS beneficiaries to lift their entitled food grains from the Fair Price Shops (FPS) of their choice at the national level.
  • It is in continuation of ‘End-to-End Computerization of PDS Operations’ to bring more transparency and efficiency in distribution of food grains.

 

DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS

 

PRICE STABILIZATION FUND (PSF)

Objectives

• • To mitigate volatility in the prices of agricultural produce

Salient Features

• • It was set up in 2014-15 under the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Famers Welfare (DAC&FW) and it was transferred from DAC&FW to the Department of Consumer Affairs (DOCA) w.e.f. 1st April, 2016.
  • The Fund aims to establish price stability through
    • • Promotion of direct purchase from farmers /farmers’ associations at farm gate/Mandi.
      • Maintaining a strategic buffer stock that would discourage hoarding and unscrupulous speculation.
      • Protecting consumers by supplying such commodities at reasonable prices through calibrated release of stock.
  • It is a Central Sector Scheme.
  • The Fund will be managed by Prize Stabilization Fund Management Committee which will approve all proposals from state government and central agencies and it will be maintained in a Central Corpus Fund account to be opened by Small Farmers Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC), which will act as Fund Manager.
  • Funding –
    • • The States will have to set up a revolving fund to which Centre and State will contribute equally (50:50).
      • The Ratio will be 75:25 in North East states.

OTHER INITIATIVES BY MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

 

 

 

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