Centre rejigs plan for sale of Bharat rice and wheat
NEW DELHI : Dismal sales of ‘Bharat’ rice, a subsidized grain aimed at helping curb its market price, have made the Centre changed its strategy. The government’s new plan is to take subsidized rice as well as atta (wheat flour) to markets where their intake is high in a targeted attempt to increase their consumption and cool prices, two senior officials aware of the matter said. The new plan is in the works after only 7.2% of Bharat rice, compared to a high 84.6% of Bharat atta that were lifted from government warehouses by three agencies managed to sell, the first of the two officials said on condition of anonymity.
The three agencies involved are National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED), National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India Ltd. (NCCF) and Kendriya Bhandar. “Till 13 February, sales of Bharat chawal were only 1% of the allocated quantity while those of wheat was around 80%," the second official said, also requesting anonymity.
“Therefore, the government had requested the three agencies to indicate if they were facing any difficulties amid poor sales. Accordingly, we changed our strategy to enhance sales of these two Bharat products and in the last fortnight, sales have increased." “We are now targeting the regions where the consumption of these two products is higher. As far as rice sales are concerned, we are trying to push it more in southern and eastern states such as Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Odisha, Bihar and West Bengal," the second official said, adding that for wheat, the Centre is aiming more at northern states.
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