Covid 19 pandemic has pushed may sectors backwards by few steps. The poor and the daily wages were the  most vulnerable during the CoVID  19 crisis. To overcome this Govt. of India has announced Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY) under which about 80 crore NFSA beneficiaries  are being provided with 5 Kgs foodgrain per person per month, free of cost, for three months starting from 1^st April 2020. Under the scheme, about 120 LMT food grains are being distributed to the most vulnerable people across the country affected by the lockdown. The central government has ensured that all priority households (PHH) under NFSA gets double the usual allocation during these three months along with each Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) beneficiary getting an extra 5 Kg/month than their normal quota of 35 Kg per card per month.

For this, the Govt. of India has allocated about Rs.40,000 crore covering the  cost of food grain, costs of its procurement, storage & transportation as well as distribution  upto the point of delivery to the intended beneficiaries at the fair price shop (FPS).  Total cost of operations starting from price of the grain paid to farmer upto payment of commission to FPS shop owner is borne by Govt. of India, which amounts to Rs 37.48 per kg for rice and Rs. 26.78 per kg for wheat. This entire food support scheme is implemented by government of India without any financial burden on the State Govt. exchequer. 

For the State of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, a Qty of 1.79 LMT of rice per month and 2957 Mts of rice per month has been allotted for April to June’20, respectively to be distributed at free of cost, to 1.11 Cr NFSA  ration card holders, covering  3.57  Cr beneficiaries of Tamilnadu and 6.34 lakh beneficiaries of Pondicherry , under PMGKAY.  Against this, the entire allocation of 5.36 LMTs for Tamilnadu and 8860 MTs for Pondicherry has already been issued out to the respective State Government. FCI TN has ensured 100 % issue for the months of April , May, and June allocation well in advance. The state Governments are issuing the lifted food grains through their Fair Price Shops.

Apart from the above, a quantity of 1,98,813 MTs of rice for the period April 2020 to June 2020 has also been issuedtoTamilnadu State Government for meeting out the requirements of 1.32 Cr beneficiaries who are not covered under NFSA. The issue under non NFSA scheme is also issued to State Governments under subsidised cost. With regard to Pondicherry a quantity of 2990 MTs of rice has been alloted under this scheme to cover 6.27 lakh of beneficiaries who are not covered under NFSA. Against this issue of food grains has commenced from depots of Pondicherry and is expected to be lifted entirely by UT of Pondicherry within a week time.

In order to mitigate the hardships of Migrant Workers and those without ration cards allocation of food grains under Atma Nirbhar Bharat scheme was introduced by GoI. Under this scheme, FCI, Tamilnadu has issued out 35,734 MTs of rice and 589 MTs of rice for May and June 2020, free of cost to the State Governments of Tamilnadu and Pondicherry  respectively.

In addition to the above FCI, Tamilnadu has issued out 3.34 LMTs of food grains under the normal NFSA and other welfare schemes during the lockdown period. This has been achieved by bringing in423rakes from other states to Tamilnadu. Through this a quantity of 11.21 Lakh MT of food grains, were brought to Tamilnadu during the lockdown period alone. As on date , FCI Tamilnadu is having 12.59 Lakh MT of food grains in its 69 depots spread across various districts of Tamilnadu and Pondicherry.

Record Breaking Procurement during CoVID 19 Lockdown

 

          The biggest challenge of FCI was to ensure that farmers were getting proper remuneration for their produce during this CoVID crisis period. Procurement of wheat from farmers by Government agencies has touched an all time record figure on 16.06.2020, when total procurement for the Central pool reached 382 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) surpassing the earlier record of 381.48 LMT achieved during 2012-13. This has been accomplished during the trying times of Covid-19 pandemic when the whole country was under lockdown.

          The commencement of procurement was delayed by a fortnight due to the first lockdown and was kicked off only from 15th April in most of the wheat surplus states as against the standard 1st April. Extraordinary efforts have been made by state governments and all government procuring agencies led by Food Corporation of India (FCI) to ensure that wheat is procured from farmers without any delay and in a safe manner. The number of purchase centers was increased from 14,838 to 21,869 this year by opening procurement centers in all possible locations, in addition to traditional grain markets/ procurement centers. This has helped to reduce farmers' footfall in procurement centers and ensured proper social distancing. Technological solutions were deployed to regulate the daily inflows into procurement centre through token systems. These measures, along with actions on the ground for regular sanitizing, earmarking of dumping areas for each farmer etc, ensured that none of the food grain procurement centers became Covid-19 hotspot anywhere in the country.

 

Paddy Procurement in Tamilnadu

          During the same period, 119 Lakh MT paddy was also procured by the government agencies across the Country. In Tamilnadu, during the Kharif Marketing Season 19-20 a record breaking 24.79 LMTs of paddy was procured  by the Government agencies, out of which 4.94 LMTs of paddy was procured in lockdown period alone. Number of procurement centres was increased from 1766 to 2094 this year to ensure maximum paddy procurement.  FCI is working towards  and ensuring that  issues under the special schemes of PMGKAY, Migrant workers under Aatma Nirbhar Bharat, Non NFSA, normal NFSA and other welfare schemes announced by GoI are not affected in any way due to the CoViD 19 pandemic crisis or lockdown. From Day 1 of lockdown, it is ensured that all depots are working all the 7 days a week as per the local requirement and is ensuring that every village in the States of Tamilnadu and Pondicherry are provided with adequate food grains so as to ensure that no one go to bed  hungry.

 

(Release ID: 1632926) Visitor Counter : 352