Government Says Record Wheat Procured At 433 Metric Tonnes

The Government has procured 433 lakh metric tonnes of wheat during the current Rabi marketing season of 2021-22, which is a record, surpassing the previous season's procurement of 389 lakh metric tonnes.

Secretary in the Department of Food and Public Distribution, Sudhanshu Pandey told media persons on Monday that states like Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh have recorded their best ever procurement.

“This procurement has benefited over 49 lakh farmers in this session as compared to over 43 lakh farmers in the last Rabi marketing season,” he said.

Mr Pandey further informed that more than Rs 84,000 crore have been paid to farmers through these procurements.

In the Kharif marketing season 2020-21, the Centre has procured over 862 lakh metric tonnes of paddy, which too is a record, surpassing 770 lakh metric tonnes of last year.

While briefing media persons about the “One Nation One Ration Card” scheme, Mr Pandey informed that it is now fully enabled in 32 states and union territories, while the remaining states are expected to enable the scheme in near future.

He further said that an average 1.5 crore monthly portability transactions are being recorded under the scheme.

While answering a question on deletion of bogus ration cards by states, Mr Pandey said that the deletion and addition of ration cards is the states' prerogative and many states are doing good work by weeding out bogus ration card holders from the list of National Food Security Act beneficiaries.

He said that this will ensure that entitled beneficiaries get the benefit of the various food grains schemes. 

The Secretary also informed that the department will very soon finalise model guidelines based on suggestions received from states, for common list of factors for inclusion and exclusion of ration card beneficiaries.