NFSA coverage in all the States by April 2016
100 %
digitisation of ration cardsto be achieved soon,
online grievance redressal introduced in all 36 States/Uts
Procurement policy modified to provide benefits
of MSP to more paddy farmers, huge procurement made during current Kharif
season
Sustained
efforts bring the cane price arrears down to Rs. 2,700 crore
New
consumer protection Act and New BIS Bill likely enacted this year to boost
consumer protection and quality culture in the country
The
Government has achieved significant mile stones in the reforms of PDS by making
it more transparent and leak proof during last 19 months. Number of States
providing Rs 2/kg wheat and Rs3/kg rice has increased to 25 from 11 during last
year and it is likely to be implemented in all the states by 1st
April. This was stated by Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, Minister of Consumer
Affairs, Food and Public Distribution while briefing the media about
programmes, policies and future road map of his Ministries here today.
Shri
Paswan said that digitisation of ration cards is one of the important
components for making PDS leak proof, 97% cards across the country have been
digitised, and soon 100 % will be digitised. All the 36 States/UTs have online
system for redressal of PDS grievances now. Direct Cash Transfer of food
subsidy to the beneficiaries started in Chandigarh and Puducherry in September
this year.
The
Minister said that based on the recommendations of High Level Committee on
restructuring of FCI, procurement policy for paddy modified to ensure reach of
MSP operations to more farmers. As a result huge paddy procurement has been
made during Kharif season. The Government also provided relief to the farmers
during the year by relaxing procurement norms for their crops affected with the
unprecedented rains and hailstorms.
Shri
Ram Vilas Paswan said that farmers’ interest and welfare is very high priority
for the Government, this is the reason the Government is making sustained
efforts to facilitate payment of sugarcane arrears. Due to these efforts
arrears came down from Rs. 21,000 cr as to 2,700 cr as on 12.1.2016 for the
sugar season of 2014-15.
Highlights
of other initiatives taken by Ministry Of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public
Distribution as briefed by the Minister are:
NFSA
implementation likely in all the States/UTs
·
At the end of one year after National Food
Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) came into force, i.e, upto July, 2014, implementation
of the Act had started in 11 States/UTs. Since then, 14 more States/UTs have
joined NFSA and the total number of States/UTs now implementing the Act is 25.
By April it is likely to be implemented in all remaining States /UTs.
·
In order to check leakage and diversions and to
facilitate Direct Cash Transfer of food subsidy to the beneficiaries,
Government has notified “Cash Transfer of Food Subsidy Rules, 2015” on
21.08.2015 under the NFSA. These rules provide that DBT scheme will be
implemented in a State/UT with the consent of the concerned State Government/UT
Administration. Under the scheme, in lieu of foodgrains subsidy component will
be credited directly into the bank accounts of beneficiaries who will be free
to buy foodgrains from anywhere in the market.The scheme has been launched
in Chandigarh and Puducherry in September, 2015. Dadra and Nagar Haveli, is
also in full readiness for implementation of this pilot cash transfer/ DBT
scheme.
·
The Central Government also decided to share 50%
(75% in the case of Hilly and difficult areas) of the cost of handling &
transportation of foodgrains incurred by the states and the dealers’ margin so
that it is not passed on to the beneficiaries and they get coarse grains
Rs1/kg, wheat at Rs2/kg and rice at Rs 3/kg
·
To ensure that beneficiaries of the National
Food Security Act get entitled foodgrains positively, rules for payment of
food security allowance to the beneficiary in the case of non-delivery of
foodgrains notified in January, 2015.
·
In order to provide nutritional security to the
economically vulnerable sections of society and to have better targeting of
“other welfare schemes’ for poor, a Committee of Ministers set up under the
chairmanship of Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution not
only decided continuation of foodgrain allocation for Other Welfare Schemes but
also recommended for providing milk and eggs – pulses etc. under the schemes.
Improving
foodgrain management
Sustained
effortshave resulted in significant reforms in TPDS. As a
result
·
Out of 24 crore 99 lakh 95 thousand 458 cards in
the country, 24 crore 17 lakh 32 thousand 202 cards have been digitised, which
shows 97 % achievement, soon it will be 100%.
·
Over 10.10crore ration cards have been seeded
with Aadhaar,
·
Online allocation of foodgrains implemented in19
states/UTs.
·
61,904 FPS automated by
installing ‘Point of Sale’device. By
March this year about 2 lakh FPS will have this device.
·
Toll free help lines installed in 32 States/UTs.
·
Online grievance redressal implemented in all 36
States/UTs
·
Transparency portal to
display all operations of TPDS launched in 27 States/UTs
Relief
to farmers
In
order to give relief to the farmers affected by the unprecedented rains &
hailstorms this year, Government relaxed Quality norms for the wheat
procurement. The Central Government also decided to reimburse amount of value
cut on such relaxation to the State Government so that farmers get full Minimum
Support Price (MSP) even for shrivelled and broken wheat grains or grains
having lustre loss. Such a farmer’s centric step has been taken for the first time by any Central
Government.Government agencies procured 280.88 lakh MT wheat during
RMS 2015-16, providing a saviour for the farmers affected by rains and
hailstorms.
·
In a bid to increase reach of minimum support
price (MSP) operations to more farmers and increase procurement of paddy, the
procurement policy has been modified and private firms have been allowed to
procure paddy from farmers in a cluster, identified by the respective state
government in the states of Assam, Bihar, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and
West Bengal. These states lack necessary infrastructure and experience in large
scale procurement operations and the Food Corporation of India (FCI), too, does
not have a robust procurement mechanism which often forces farmers to go for
distress sale. Private firms would deliver custom milled rice (CMR) at the FCI
or state government-owned agency godowns.
·
There is huge increase in
procurement of paddy in the current Kharif Marketing Season (KMS), which begun
on 1st October, 2015. The total quantity of paddy procured in terms of rice
till date is 224.80 lakh MT, which was only 174.04 lakh MT till this date
during the previous KMS.
·
For creation of 1.5 LMT Buffer Stock of Pulses,
FCI started procurement pulses from farmers at market price or MSP whichever is
higher. FCI has targeted the procurement of 20,000 MT of Arhar, 2,500 MT of
Urad (Total 22,500 MT) during Kharif Marketing Season 2015-16. Similarly,
target has been fixed for procurement of 40,000 MT Chana and 10,000 MT of Masur
(Total 50,000 MT) during Rabi Marketing Season 2015-16.
·
The drop in international prices of imported
oils was affecting the prices of domestically produced edible oils consequent
upon which farmers’ interests were affected. Department of Food and Public
Distribution had recommended an increase in the import duty. Accordingly, the
import duty on Crude oils has been increased from existing 7.5% to 12.5% and
the import duty on refined oils from existing 15% to 20%. on 17.09.2015.
Reforms
in FCI
·
To bring all operations of FCI Godowns online
and to check reported leakage, “Depot Online” system initiated in 30 sensitive
depots. Depot Online System will be rolled out in all the FCI-Owned Depots by
May this year and in all other hired depots by year end.
·
The FCI has been asked to take up construction
modern silos for storage of total 100 lakh MT capacity at different
locations in the country under PPP mode which will help in maintaining the
quality of foodgrains, minimize losses and ensure rapid bulk movement of
foodgrains.
Time
bound construction plan is:
2015-16-
completion of 5 LMT capacity,
2016-17-completion
of 15 LMT capacity,
2017-18-
completion of 30 LMT capacity
2018-19-
completion of 30 LMT capacity
2019-20-
completion of 20 LMT capacity
·
The Government of India approved sale of wheat
and rice available in central pool above the stocking norms in the beginning
the quarter of 2015-16 under Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS), 44.81 lakh
MT of wheat and 0.73 lakh MT of Grade-A rice has been sold up to 2nd
January 2016.
·
Despite 2014 and 2015 having been
monsoon deficit years, due to robust procurement arrangement made by FCI, there
is more than adequate foodgrain stock available with the Government under
Central Pool. As on 1st January, 2016, there is 237.88 lakh MT of issuable
wheat stock under Central Pool. The FCI is also stepping up Open Market Sale of
wheat at reasonable rates to check inflation and also to provide supplies to
the private flour mills and trade. Similarly, on 1st January, 2016 there is a
stock of 126.89 lakh MT of rice under Central Pool, which is 50.79 lakh MT more
than stocking norms. This excess quantity of rice will help in meeting any
contingencies arising due to monsoon deficit or natural calamities in near
future.
·
Besides 12 States/UTs already under
Decentralised Procurement, Telangana became a new DCP State this year for
procurement of rice. Andhra Pradesh & Punjab have also adopted this system
partially during 2014-15 to improve the efficiency of foodgrains procurement
and distribution operations.
·
Adequate supply of foodgrains made using
multi-modal transport in North Eastern States despite disruption in rail route
due to gauge conversion from Lumding to Badarpur. 80,000MT foodgrains moved
through roads every month besides creating additional storage of 20,000 MT
in the region. Foodgrains also inducted into Tripura via riverine route passing
through Bangladesh.
·
1, 03,636 MTs of Rice moved from Andhra Pradesh
to Kerala for the first time through riverine/coastal movement.
·
Government revised the buffer norms in January,
2015 for better management of foodgrain storage. During 2015-16 both storage
and transit losses have been reduced to (-) 0.03% due to storage gain in
wheat and 0.39% against MoU target of 0.15% and 0.42% respectively.
·
Storage capacity for central pool stocks of food
grains increased to 796.08 lakh MT. New godowns having capacity of 10 lakh
MT under Private Entrepreneur Guarantee Scheme (PEG) constructed in 20
States. Besides this storage capacity of 62,650 MT in North East under
Plan Scheme and 1.78 lakh MT in 12 States added through CWC.
·
610.50 lakh MT of foodgrains were allocated to
States/UTs for distribution under TPDS and other
Welfare Schemes during 2015-16 (upto 18.01.2016).
·
The Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) also
achieved all time high turnover of Rs. 1562 crore in 2014-15.
·
A transformation plan for the Warehousing
Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA) has been initiated to streamline
the warehousing sector. The work on for creation of IT platform and rewriting
of rules and procedures has been initiated.
Steps
taken to liquidate cane price arrears of farmers
The
Government took several measures to facilitate payment of cane price arrears by
infusing liquidity into the sector.
·
A scheme for extending soft loans to the
extent of Rs. 6000 crore to the sugar industry was notified on 23.6.2015. Rs
4152crore have been disbursed under the scheme. The government also extended
period by one year for achieving eligibility under the soft loan scheme and
decided to bear the interest subvention cost to the extent of Rs. 600 crore for
the extended period.
·
Direct Subsidy to farmers,
Government decided to pay a production linked subsidy of Rs 4.50 per quintal
cane in 2015-16 season, to sugar mills to offset the cost of cane and
facilitate timely payment of cane price dues of farmers for sugar season
2015-16. A notification in this regard issued on 2.12.2015. Funds released
under the scheme shall be directly credited into farmers’ accounts.
·
The export incentive on raw sugar has been
increased from Rs 3200/MT to Rs. 4000/MT. Funds have been allocated to support
14 lac MT (LMT) of raw sugar exports as against 7.5 LMT achieved last
year. In September 2015 Government also announced quotas for mills and
co-operatives for mandatory exports of four million tonne of sugar in 2015-16.
·
The Government has enhanced import duty on sugar
from 25% to 40% to discourage imports. Also, to prevent leakages of sugar in
the domestic markets, the export obligation period has been reduced from 18
months to 6 months under the Advanced Authorization Scheme.
·
Blending targets under Ethanol Blending
Programme scaled up from 5% to 10%.
·
Remunerative prices for Ethanol supplied for
blending have been substantially increased and excise duty on ethanol supplied
for blending in the next sugar season has been waived. As a result, the
supplies of ethanol for blending have increased from about 32 crore liters per
year to 83 crore liters per annum. It is also
noteworthy that the sugar industry is now active in the Ethanol Blending
Program, by supplying 6.82 cr ltrs of ethanol to Oil Marketing Companies during
the current sugar season (since October, 2015) as against mere 1.92 cr ltrs
supplied during the corresponding period in the last season. Furthermore, the
contracted quantity under EBP is at an unprecedented 120 cr ltrs in the current
season which a historic high.
·
As a result of these sustained efforts, the
cane price arrears which were Rs. 21,000 crore in peak in April 2015 in
sugar season of 2014-15 have came down to Rs. 2,700 crore as on
12.1.2016.
New provisions to promote quality of consumer
products and services
·
In order to ensure quality of products and
services for common consumer, the Government introduced Bureau of Indian
Standards Bill, 2015 in Parliament to replace 29 years- old BIS Act. The
new Bill has been approved by the Lok Sabha. In the new Bill provisions have
been made for simpler self-certification mechanism, mandatory hallmarking,
and product recall and product liability for better compliance to standards.
·
To improve “ ease of doing business”, simplified
conformity assessment schemes, including self- certification and market
surveillance instead of inspectors visiting factories introduced, thereby ending
the inspector raj on standards.
·
New provisions proposed will promote harmonious
development of standardisation activities, enabling GoI to bring mandatory
certifications regime for goods or service considered vital from viewpoint of
health, safety, environment, and prevention of deceptive practices.
Provision to prevent import of below par products, providing mandatory
hallmarking of precious metal articles, increased scope of conformity
assessment, and enhancement of penalties and implication are the important
provisions in the Act. The new Bill has also made increased penal provisions
for better and more effective compliance and compounding of offence for
violations
·
New Bill provides for recall, including
product liability of products not conforming to relevant Indian Standards
·
Registration for manufacturers of electronic
products to safeguard consumer / industry against sub-standard imports
provided.
·
Under the Swacch Bharat Abhiyan, steps
taken to formulate/upgrade standards on potable water, street food and garbage
disposal.
Boost to
consumer protection
·
Consumer Protection Bill 2015 that seeks to
simplify and strengthen consumer grievance redressal procedure introduced in
the Parliament this year. Setting up of a Central Protection Authority which
will have powers to recall products and initiate class suit against
defaulting companies, including e-retailers proposed. E-filing and time
bound admission of complaints in consumer courts is another important provision
made in the Bill.
The Government adopted six points joint action plan for
consumer awareness and protection. This will include:
(i) Jointly developing and implementing industry standard for
grievance redressal
(ii) All Members of the Industry Associations to partner with the National Consumer Helpline and State Consumer Helplines
(ii) All Members of the Industry Associations to partner with the National Consumer Helpline and State Consumer Helplines
(iii) Launching of joint awareness campaigns
(iv) Earmarking of CSR funds for consumer
welfare activities
(v) Developing a self-regulation code
(vi) Action against fake, sub-standard,
counterfeit products
It would be launched on the World Consumer
rights day on March 15 this year.
·
Joint campaign organised with Heath, Financial
Services and other departments for greater consumer awareness. During the year
the Department of Consumer Affairs intensified its multimedia campaign under
the banner of Jago Grahak Jago, with special emphasis on rural area.
·
An Inter-Ministerial Monitoring Committee
constituted for key sectors that matters to consumers viz Agriculture, Food,
Healthcare, Housing, Financial Services and Transport, to facilitate policy
coherence and coordinated action on consumer.
·
To tackle the menace of misleading advertisement,
a dedicated portalwww.gama.gov
launched. It enables consumers to register their grievances against misleading
advertisements in six key sectors viz. food and agriculture, heath, education,
real estate, transport and financial services. The complaints lodged are taken
up with the relevant authorities or the sector regulators and the consumer is
informed after the action taken.
·
To provide a host of consumer services under one
roof, GrahakSuvidhaKendras launched in six locations: Ahmadabad,
Bangalore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Patna and Delhi on March 18, 2015. Such centres
will be set up in every State in a phased manner. They will provide guidance
to consumers regarding consumer laws, rights of the consumers, procedure of
approaching Consumer Courts and various other consumer related issues including
quality assurance and safety of products.
Measures to ensure availability of Essential
food items at reasonable prices
In order to ensure availability of essential food items at
reasonable prices the Government took flowing decisions recently:
·
Advance action plan drawn to ensure availability
of Essential Commodities and weekly monitoring meeting of an inter-ministerial
committee chaired by the Secretary Consumer Affairs.
·
Decision taken to procure 1.50 lakh MT of pulses
for creating buffer stock. Decision to import of 10,000 MT pulses already
taken.
·
MSP increased for kharif pulse by Rs 275 per qtl
for Tur&Urad, and by Rs 250 per qtl for Moong.
·
Ban on export of all pulses, except Kabuli
Chana; and Organic Pulses & lentils up to 10,000 MTs. Zero import duty on
pulses extended upto Sept,2016.
·
Zero import duty extended till 30th
September 2016.
·
States/UTs empowered to impose stock limits, on
Onions and Pulses to check hoarding and black marketing under EC Act, 1955.
·
Other edible oil in branded consumer pack of up
to 5 kgs is permitted with MEP of USD 900 per MT w.e.f. 6.2.2015
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