More than 61 million tons foodgrains allocated to the States during the current year

During the current year, Government of India has allocated 61.45 million tons of foodgrains for Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS)/ National Food Security Act (NFSA), Other Welfare Schemes (OWS), natural calamities etc. This includes additional allocation of 5 million tons of foodgrains allocated during July, 2014 for Above Poverty Line (APL) and Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. In addition, 10 million tons of wheat has been allocated under Open Market Sales Schemes Domestic (OMSS (D)) during the current year. Out of 5 million tons of additional TPDS foodgrains and 10 million tons of OMSS (D) wheat allocations, total lifting upto February was 2.94 million tons and 3.95 million tons respectively. This information was given by the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

The Minister said that the stock of foodgrains in the Central Pool as on 16.2.2015 was 35.37 million tons against the minimum buffer norms of 21.41 million tons for January-March quarter.