The Hindu Business Line : Kerala: Rice at Rs 3 a kg from next month

THE Kerala Government will implement the scheme to distribute foodgrains up to 25 kg at Rs 3 a kg to ration cardholders in the below poverty line category next month.

The State Food and Civil Supplies Minister, Mr Adoor Prakash, told Business Line that all essential commodities would also be made available to the people at low prices through ration shops. Already 1,200 shops throughout the State have started selling essential commodities and by March-end, the target of 1,400 shops would be achieved, he said.

The idea is to ensure supply of quality foodgrains and other commodities to the poor people at affordable price, he said.

All the commodities are supplied to the ration shops by the State-owned Civil Supplies Corporation (Supplyco). Following the introduction of the system, the total sales turnover of Supplyco has gone up to Rs 497 crore during April-December 2005-06. At this rate, the turnover by March-end is expected to cross Rs 650 crore, the Minister said. The turnover of Supplyco was just Rs 350 crore during the fiscal 2003-04 which increased to Rs 454 crore in 2004-05.

Mr Prakash, who has been selected for the `Excellence Award' given to the best Food and Civil Supplies Minister in the country by the All India Ration Dealers Association, said that for the first time in the history of the State's PDS, the corporation had supplied `kuthari' at low prices through the ration shops from June 2005.

"We want to make it a regular feature in the entire State for the benefit of the farmers on the one hand and to provide this rice to the poor people on the other, who are being provided with the rice supplied by the FCI. This rice is, in fact, beyond the reach of the poor people," he said.

The corporation had procured 1.14 lakh tonne of paddy from the farmers and co-operative societies during the last two seasons and around 70 per cent of it was milled and the rice distributed through the PDS to the beneficiaries in the districts of Palakkad, Thrissur, Ernakulam, Idukki, Kottayam, Alapuzha, Pathanamthitta and Kollam. This year the corporation will procure the entire paddy produced in the State directly from the farmers at Rs 7 a kg so as to make `kuthari' available to all cardholders in all 14 districts, he said.

When the paddy is procured at Rs 7 a kg, the cost of rice comes to around Rs 10.50 a kg. The Centre will provide MSP of Rs 5.60 a kg in addition to other overhead expenses such as transportation cost etc. Hence, the State Government has to bear the difference in cost. The total liability on this account of the State comes to an estimated Rs 15 crore, he said.

`Kuthari' is sold through the PDS at Rs 6.20 a kg to people below poverty line (BPL) while under Anthyodaya Anna Yojana at Rs 3 a kg and under Annapoorna 10 kg of rice is distributed free, he said.

To extend this facility to other parts of the State, paddy cultivation has to be increased in other districts also. According to him, at present 50,000 tonnes of rice per month is distributed through the PDS in the State and, hence, the production of paddy has to be multiplied several fold, he said.

Paddy cultivation in Kerala has been on the decline for the past several years as it has become unremunerative, he said. If the growers were motivated to take up cultivation on an economy scale by bringing in more areas under the crop besides giving them an assurance that the entire produce would be procured by an agency, rice production in the State could be increased, he added.