Food Grain Production

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday claimed that the Centre spends Rs 8,400 crore for distribution of the food grain among poor people in Odisha while the state government's expenditure in this regard is only Rs 185 crore per annum. Pradhan, the Union Education minister who hails from Odisha, told reporters that the Centre will spend Rs 700 crore per month which amounts to Rs 8,400 crore annually to provide free rice for 3.25 crore people of Odisha under the food security scheme. He, however, urged the state government to ensure that the poor beneficiaries get the "Modi rice" without any hurdles. According to a decision taken by the Union Cabinet last month, the Narendra Modi government would provide free food grain to the people for one year under Pradhan Mantri Garib Anna Kalyan Yojana (PMGKAY). "Odisha's 3.25 crore people will be covered under the PMGKY and will get free of cost rice for one year," Pradhan said. The Union minister said of the 4.5 crore Odisha's ...

Food subsidies are a major portion of subsidies provided by states

"The food subsidy burden is already crossing Rs 3 trillion and we are hopeful that it will be brought down below that mark," said a senior government official

Wheat inventories at government-run granaries stood at 22.7 million tonnes on Oct 1

Product launched in Bengal, Delhi and Mumbai across general trade; will be available pan-India in phases, and across modern trade and major e-commerce platforms as well

The idea in itself is not new and previously several attempts have been made to involve private players in official procurement, most recently in oilseeds

Commodities such as wheat, rice, soya meal, raw cotton, fresh vegetable, and processed vegetables etc. have registered most positive growths, the presentation data showed

India, which historically kept its huge wheat harvests at home - thanks to a government-set price - is jumping into the export market, hawking record amounts across Asia

Farmers typically start planting summer-sown crops on June 1, when monsoon rains usually reach India. Planting then continues until early August.

FCI has been asked to install a vehicle tracking system in all its 20 regional offices to track the trucks moving subsidised foodgrains

The country's rabi foodgrains production including wheat in the ongoing 2020-21 crop year is expected to be better than the previous year's record of 153.27 million tonne

The stock burden along with inadequate Budget allocations for the food subsidy and the Centre's zeal to check the fiscal deficit has worsened FCI's financial position

The second advance crop production estimates were released on February 27, almost a fortnight later than their normal date of release of February 15

Production of rice has increased by 1.31 million tonnes than the production of 109.70 million tonnes during 2016-17