Tamil Nadu tops the chart of states in terms of consumption of public distribution system (PDS) rice, with almost 9 out of 10 households in rural areas buy subsidised grain from ration shops.
"The major states with relatively high incidence of PDS purchase of rice in the rural sector were Tamil Nadu (89 per cent households), Andhra Pradesh (87 per cent), Kerala (78 per cent) and Karnataka (75 per cent)," the report said.
Even in cities, Tamil Nadu has the highest proportion of households consuming PDS rice at 67 per cent as per an NSSO report titled 'PDS and Other Sources of Household Consumption, 2011-12'.
Other states, after Tamil Nadu, which have higher proportion of urban households buying subsidised rice under the PDS scheme are Kerala (61 pe cent), Andhra Pradesh (45 per cent) and Chhattisgarh (42 per cent), the report added.
It said the contribution of PDS purchases was also the highest in Tamil Nadu (rural: 53 per cent, urban: 43 per cent), followed by Karnataka (rural: 45 per cent, urban: 25 per cent), Chhattisgarh (rural: 38 per cent, urban: 30 per cent), Kerala (rural: 36 per cent, urban: 30 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (rural: 33 per cent, urban: 22 per cent).
For West Bengal, where rice is the main item of cereal consumption, the share of PDS purchases in consumption was lowest (rural: 10 per cent, urban: 6 petr cent). The PDS share in rice consumption in 2011-12 was about 27.9 per cent in villages and about 19.6 per cent in the urban sector.
The share of PDS in wheat/atta consumption was about 17.3 per cent in villages and about 10.1 per cent in urban areas. PDS purchases accounted for 15.8 per cent of consumption of sugar in villages, and for 10.3 per cent in cities.
For kerosene, the contribution of PDS purchase was 80.8 per cent villages and 58.1 per cent in cities.
At the all-India level, the proportion of households reporting PDS purchase of wheat/atta was about 34 per cent in villages and 19 per cent in cities.
Among the major states where wheat is the major cereal food, the states with the highest incidence of PDS purchase of wheat/atta in villages were Maharashtra (40 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (36 per cent households), and Gujarat (32 per cent).
In cities, among predominantly wheat-consuming states, Madhya Pradesh (23 per cent) had the highest incidence of PDS purchase. Similarly the contribution of PDS purchases was highest in Maharashtra (30 per cent), followed by Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh (18 per cent) in villages.
The proportion of families reporting PDS purchase of sugar was highest in Tamil Nadu (rural: 90 per cent, urban: 77 per cent), followed by Andhra Pradesh (rural: 82 per cent, urban: 42 per cent), Assam (rural: 71 per cent, urban: 41 per cent), Chhattisgarh (rural: 66 per cent, urban: 36 per cent), and Karnataka (rural: 67 per cent, urban: 27 per cent).
