Tamil Nadu to bear Rs 300 cr extra for PDS rice

The Tamil Nadu government will have to shell out an additional Rs 300 crore for rice subsidy, since the state government does not plan to revise the prices of food grains provided under the public distribution system (PDS) in tandem with the central government's decision in this regard.

The central government has announced an increase of 85 paise in the cost of rice from Rs 8.30 per kg to Rs 9.15 per kg and slashed the monthly entitlements of food grains under the PDS for the Antyodaya card-holders.

A Tamil Nadu government press release said that the rice subsidy borne by the state would go up to Rs 1,500 from the present Rs 1,200 crore a year.

"Tamil Nadu would not revise the price of rice in the public distribution system and will maintain it at the present level of Rs 3.50 per kg," said chief minister J Jayalalithaa.

There are about 20 crore PDS card-holders in the country, of which Tamil Nadu has about 1.88 crore card-holders.