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After 4 years, the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation plans to procure rice from the open market. Initially, it placed an order of 1.5 lakh tonnes of rice with the National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF), a body under the jurisdiction of the Consumer Affairs Department of the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. NCCF, one of the organizations authorized by TNCSC, is also collecting paddy in the state.
This amount will be helpful in meeting the requirements of the beneficiaries covered under the Non-Priority Household (NPHH) Ration Card. It could be in late January and February 2023 "If required, we can buy another 1.5 lakh tonnes," said a senior official looking after the Civil Supply Corporation.
The need for the State to procure
rice has arisen in the light of the Centre suspending the Open Market Sale
Scheme (OMSS), through which the shortfall in requirements was met in the
past. The element of uncertainty over
the continuance of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana scheme beyond
December, which is meant for distributing free food grains to the poor, has
also contributed to the decision.
On average, the monthly
off-take of rice under the public distribution system (PDS) is about 3.20 lakh
tonnes, of which around 2.76 lakh tonnes are being provided by the Centre. It
is for the balance portion that the State has to approach different sources
including the OMSS. Except in the case
of tide-over allotment which is charged at ₹ 8.3 per kg, the allotments for the
categories of Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) & Priority Households (PHH) are
levied at ₹ 3 per kg. The rate fixed by
the Central department of Food and Public Distribution for OMSS is ₹ 23 per
kg. Since August, there has been no sale
of rice under the OMSS. As Tamil Nadu has been following the universal public
distribution system and supplying rice free of cost to ration cardholders, it
is bearing the entire cost.
Asked how much the government has
proposed to procure rice, the official said it could be around ₹ 35 per kg. It
may be noted that the Center has fixed the economic price of rice for the
current year at ₹ 36.7 per kg for the
purpose of its calculation.
Source:
Online/KSU
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