BENGALURU: Three central agencies have agreed to procure rice for the state government’s flagship programme Anna Bhagya. The National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF), National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) and Kendriya Bhandara are likely to source a part of the 2.28 lakh tonnes of rice required for the free rice scheme, from other states, including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Punjab as there is no adequate stock available in the state.
At a high-powered meeting held by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Food and Civil Supplies Minister KH Muniyappa on Saturday, the officials from the central agencies committed to procure rice from traders and rice mills at around Rs 34 per kg which is the price fixed by the Food Corporation of India, sources said.
But the state government will have to bear the cost of transportation and also pay a commission of around 1 per cent to the agencies, the sources told The New Indian Express. Muniyappa recently met Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal in New Delhi, but had failed to convince him to lift the ban on the sale of rice to states. The Centre has reasoned that FCI has to build a bigger stockpile of the staple grain and cannot supply it to the states.
BJP govt lifted 95% of rice, says Jairam Ramesh
AICC communication wing chief Jairam Ramesh alleged that the Central government has been targeting Karnataka by denying rice supplies from FCI. “The Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs discontinuing OMSS(D) for states was targeted at mainly one state, Karnataka, that procured more than 95 per cent of all rice bought by state governments under the scheme this year,” he said.
“From Jan.1, 2023 till May.24, 2023, the BJP-led state government in Karnataka alone lifted more than 95 per cent of the rice procured by all State governments under the Open Market Sale Scheme (Domestic) at Rs 3,400 per quintal, presumably with Modi-ji’s “Aashirwaad”. Once, the Congress government was formed in Karnataka, as threatened by BJP President J P Nadda, this “Aashirwaad” was withdrawn at break-neck speed,” he alleged in a press release.
FCI had issued orders for the sale of rice under OMSS (D) on June 12, 2023, based on the Karnataka government’s requests on June 6 and June 9, 2023. A day later, the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs discontinued OMSS (D) for states, he said.
“Clearly, this was targeted at sabotaging the implementation of the Anna Bhagya 2.0 scheme guaranteed by the Congress to the people of Karnataka. Immediately, on June 14, the GM Karnataka of the FCI, withdrew the earlier order of sale of rice on June 12, 2023. Not only that, the Chairman and Managing Director of FCI in a press conference on June 23, 2023 said that conditions will be placed such that private traders cannot sell to another state. Isn’t this a clear case of sabotage,” he asked.
Over 51 lakh register for Gruha Jyoti
Registration for the Gruha Jyoti scheme that promises 200 units of free power to those eligible has crossed 51 lakh on Sunday. The registration opened on June 18 and initially faced several glitches. A total of 51.17 lakh consumers have registered for the scheme. BESCOM said that consumers can register without any fee at their nearby electricity offices, Nadakacheri or through the Seva Sindhu portal and requested them not to fall prey to illegal websites and applications.