Paswan to review panel suggestion to restructure FCI

NEW DELHI: Food minister Ram Vilas Paswan has called a meeting on February 11 to review the recommendations of a high-level committee on restructuring Food Corporation of India.

Officials of the Central Warehousing Corporation, the warehousing development and regulatory authority, FCI and the food and consumer affairs secretaries have been asked to present an action plan based on the recommendations.

"We will be giving our views on what recommendations can be implemented and what cannot to the government," said an FCI official.

Ministry officials said the government was keen to implement the suggestions of the panel headed by former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Shanta Kumar to improve FCI’s operational efficiency and financial management, as well as overall improvement in management of food grains. The eight-member panel, which was set up in August 2014, submitted its report on January 19. Kumar has also been minister for rural development and consumer affairs at the Centre.

Food secretary Sudhir Kumar has called a meeting of his counterparts in wheat-procuring states on the rabi procurement arrangement on February 16. Wheat procurement starts April 1, with government needing 28.02 million tonnes for various social schemes in the 2014-15 marketing season.

On January 16, the wheat stock in government granaries was 24.02 million tonnes. Secretaries will meet Thursday to decide how much can be offloaded under the open-market sale programme.

The panel to review the public distribution of grains has made far-reaching recommendations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on large scale use of direct cash transfers to help deregulate fertilizers, and save Rs 30,000 crore a year in public distribution system (PDS) operations. It has suggested a review of the food security law to lower beneficiaries to 40% from 67% of the total population. It wants FCI to become an agency for innovation in food management with a primary focus on creating competition in every segment of foodgrain supply.

The panel had also recommended FCI withdraw from major states such as Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and focus on east and northeast India. It also wants price support policies to encourage oilseeds and pulses.