Govt transfers Rs49,965 cr directly to farmers’ accounts for food grains procured
12 May 2021
Government agencies have procured a total of 33.89 million tonnes of wheat so far (as of 9 May 2021) during the Rabi Marketing Season 2021-22, compared to 24.80 million tonnes procured during corresponding day last year, secretary, department of food and public distribution Shudhanshu Pandey has said.
He said a total of Rs49,965 crore gas so far been transferred directly into farmers’ accounts across India on account of wheat procurement, Pandey said. Of this, he said Rs21,588 crore has been transferred directly into farmers’ account in Punjab and about Rs11,784 crore into farmers’ accounts in Haryana.
Further, he said, around 3.41 million farmers have been benefitted so far against 2.82 million last year as on date. He said procurement was undertaken through 19,030 purchase centres across the country.
He said Haryana and Punjab have now switched from indirect payment of MSP to direct online transfers of benefit. Farmers are now receiving direct benefits against sale of their crops without any delay across the country, he said.
Besides, Pandey said that in view of resurgence of Covid, with the objective of makig wheat and rice stocks easily available in the open market, Government of India has liberalised OMSS (D) policy for the year 2021-22. Sale of food grains under OMSS (D) has started in non- procuring states and 2,800 tonnes have been sold so far.
So far, during the Covid-19 pandemic, around 92.88 million tonnes of foodgrains, comprising 36.39 million tonnes of wheat and 56.49 million tonnes of rice, have been issued from the central pool between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021 for distribution, he informed.
On the issue of skyrocketing of edible oil prices, Pandey said the government is closely monitoring the prices of edible oils. He said due to Covid condition some stocks are stuck at ports due to clearance relating tests by various agencies. The problem is now being addressed and soon stocks will be released in the market and this will show softening impact on oil prices.
Pandey also stated that a detailed review with sugar and ethanol industry have been going on on the issue of subsidy, adding that a blending target of 7.2 per cent has been achieved and the government is trying to achieve 8.5 per cent blending target by the end of this year.
As of now, he said, 11 states in the country have already achieved the blending target of 9-10 per cent, while rest of the states are working on it.