Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday flagged off 100 mobile vans in Delhi that will sell the Government’s subsidised ‘”Bharat rice” to be sold at ₹29/kg in 5 kg and 10 kg packs. He said it will be available in 18,000 outlets, including e-commerce platforms, across the country in the next few days.
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Said to provide relief to consumers amid a 15 per cent rise in retail prices of rice in the last one year, the Minister said, the government has been making efforts to ensure that daily food items are available at affordable rates for the common people. In each bag of ‘Bharat rice’, there will be 5 per cent broken, officials said.
Personal experience
Sharing his personal experience, Goyal said he has been already using ‘Bharat dal’ and ‘Bharat atta’, and both of them are delicious. “Now, I have purchased Bharat rice,” he said. The Centre is selling subsidised ‘Bharat atta’ at ₹27.50/kg and ‘Bharat dal’ (gram dal) at ₹60/kg to retail consumers, for the first time.
The Food Corporation of India (FCI) will provide 5 lakh tonnes of rice to National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED), National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India (NCCF) and Kendriya Bhandar in the first phase for the grading and packing under Bharat rice for further sell to consumers. These agencies are also selling Bharat brand atta and dal.