The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Thursday, October 19, 2000,
Chandigarh, India

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Haryana to get same relief as Punjab
From T.V. Lakshminarayan
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 18 — After Punjab, it is the turn of neighbouring Haryana to get relief from the Centre for its paddy growers.

The Union Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, Mr Shanta Kumar, said the relief for Haryana would be on the same lines as that given to Punjab and there would be no discrimination.

The minister also announced several measures to reduce foodstocks in the country that would cost around Rs 972 crore to implement.

A central team has been sent to Haryana to assess the exact amount of loss suffered by the farmers due to distress sale and adequate compensation for them would be done on the basis of the team’s report.

He said the Chief Minister of Haryana, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, and senior state government ministers and officials had been in touch with him on the problem faced by the State. Senior BJP leaders like the Union Minister of State for Home, Mr I.D. Swami, had also met Mr Kumar in this regard.

They had contended that not only the geographic and climatic conditions of both Punjab and Haryana were similar, but the varieties of all crops in general and paddy in particular are the same and the produce of paddy was similar in quality.

The minister clarified that while relaxations had been given to paddy quality, the government would not compromise on the quality of rice received from the millers.

Mr Shanta Kumar also spelt out several steps to reduce the accumulated stocks of foodgrains with the government, including exports of grains at “realistic” international prices.

The mounting stocks with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) of both rice and wheat has created a situation wherein the government had to initiate immediate steps to liquidate them through the public distribution system, open sale and exports, the minister said.

He said the FCI was carrying a stock of 132 lakh tonnes of rice as against the buffer norm of 65 lakh tonnes and 269 lakh tonnes of wheat against the buffer norm of 116 lakh tonnes as on October 1, this year. Adding to the problem is the estimated procurement of additional 100 lakh tonnes of rice in the ongoing kharif season up to December 2000.

The problem has assumed a physical dimension with the FCI finding it difficult to create storage space for the kharif procurement of paddy and rice in Punjab and Haryana along with the additional burden of Rs 4000 crore on account of carrying cost of buffer stocks.

Mr Kumar said a meeting of the Group of Ministers chaired by Mr L.K.Advani was held yesterday to discuss and resolve the problems arising out of the present scenario.

The Group of Ministers has agreed to take several measures, suggested by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, to overcome the present problem.

The first decision relates to the targeted public distribution system, which was introduced in 1997. It has been decided to allot foodgrains for below poverty line (BPL) families on the basis of the population projections of the Registrar-General as on March one, 2000 instead of the current base, which is 1995. The rationalisation of the population base would result in an increase in number of BPL families from 5.96 crore to 6.52 crore, an increase of 56 lakh families.

The additional allocation of foodgrains would be 13.44 lakh tonnes in a full year. In the current year it would increase off take by 3.9 lakh tonnes.

Institutions fostering care to destitute children, women or men, special schools for physically handicapped children, old age homes, orphanages, hostels for SC/ST/Backward Classes, Nari Niketans and such other institutions which are sponsored by the state governments and the administrative ministries concerned would be alloted foodgrains at the rate of Rs 5 kg per head a month at BPL rates in addition to the states’ BPL quota.

It has been decided to allocate foodgrains under various welfare programmes, including the food for work programme under taken by the state governments and also under the greening India campaign at the rates applicable for the BPL families. Presently the off-take of foodgrains has been negligible as foodgrains under these schemes are being issued at the central issue price applicable for the APL category under the schemes like Jawahar Gramin Samridhi Yojna and the Employment Assurance Scheme.

The Group of Ministers has decided to allocate foodgrains for organisations like the World Food Programme and reputed NGOs at BPL rates provided they are sponsored by state governments and the administrative ministries in the Government of India. The estimated off-take of foodgrains under these programmes during the remaining part of the financial year would be around three lakh tonnes of rice and 2.67 lakh tonnes of wheat.

It has been decided that the central issue price of rice and wheat for above poverty lines (APL) families would be fixed at the economic cost or the prevailing open market sale price of FCI whichever is lower. In case of open market sale in the states, which are also procuring for the central pool, such prices would not be lower than the levy price.

This measure would significantly improve the offtake of the foodgrains for the APL category, especially in food deficit states. The estimated offtake on this account is expected to be 40 lakh tonnes of wheat and 30 lakh tonnes of rice.