UP, Gujarat ask Centre to restore wheat quota under two food schemes

States raise matter in central government's meeting on food security, say beneficiaries complaining

BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat have asked the Central government to restore the wheat quota under two schemes that replaced the grain with rice to ensure stocks.

The National Food Security Act (NFSA) and Gareeb Kalyan Scheme made the swap a few months back to ensure adequate wheat stocks at the end of the current fiscal after domestic procurement dropped to multi-year lows because farmers sold their stock to private traders for better price and production fell in high temperatures.

“In western Uttar Pradesh, we are getting reports that beneficiaries are not accepting rice in lieu of wheat through the PDS system as their feeding habits are different which can’t be changed overnight,” said a state government senior official. He said the state had approached the Centre to restore the quota.

Officials from both states raised the matter during a meeting called by the central government on food and nutrition security. Food Minister Piyush Goyal attended the meeting on Tuesday.

“Earlier, under the NFSA, UP used to give 3 kg of wheat and 2 kg of rice to each beneficiary per month which has now been changed as supplies of wheat aren’t sufficient enough,” said the UP official.

Gujarat officials said beneficiaries in the state’s Sauras­htra region have complained about reduced monthly wheat quota under the Food Act. 

“Earlier, we used to distribute 3.5 kg of wheat and 1.5 kg of rice to each beneficiary each month which has now been changed to 2 kg of wheat and 3 kg of rice, but we are asking for either going back to the old system or raising the quantum of wheat,” said a Gujarat government official.

The Central government, first in early May 2022, replaced around 5.5 million tonnes of wheat with rice under the Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Yojana. It later replaced another 6.1 million tonnes of wheat with rice under the NFSA. It freed up around 11 million tonnes of wheat to manage stocks.

Under NFSA, the centre provides food grains at subsidised rates using PDS ration shops to over 80 crore beneficiaries.  Whereas under the PMGKAY — launched in March 2020 to reduce the hardships of people during the coronavirus pandemic —about 5 kg of free grains are distributed to the NFSA beneficiaries.

The free food grains scheme was started in March 2020 during the first COVID wave as a welfare measure.

The scheme has been extended six times since then, the latest one being on April 1, 2022 for six months.

The Centre’s wheat procurement in FY-23 dropped by almost 59 per cent to 18.78 million tonnes as compared to the same period last year as farmers opted to sell to private traders outside the official procurement system due to high prices while overall production also suffered.

Wheat production in the 2021-22 crop season ending in June has been pegged at 106.41 million tonnes, as per the third advance estimate. That is 3.8 million tonnes less than last year’s output and 4.39 per cent lower than the first estimate of 111.32 million tonnes as a heat wave in the main crop growing stage crimped output.