Congress’s dilemma came to the fore when the Rajasthan government decided not to oppose the Union Government’s decision to ban states from purchasing rice from the pool of Food Corporation of India (FCI) through the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS).Notably, the Congress-ruled Karnataka government has continuously been opposing the Union Government’s decision to ban the states, as it had to launch the ‘Anna Bhagya’ scheme to distribute free rice to the poor.
In a recently held meeting, it was only Karnataka — of 17 states, who participated in the national conference of Food Ministers — that opposed the Union Government’s decision. Whereas, Rajasthan was among the 16 states that supported the Union Government’s decision of banning the states from procuring rice from the FCI through bidding, revealed Union Food Secretary, Sanjeev Chopra.Besides, the Congress-ruled Rajasthan, many other non-BJP ruled states like Bihar, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh also supported the Union Government’s decision of barring states from bidding in the OMSS.
Amid the allegations of the Congress party of sabotaging their scheme in Karnataka, the Union Food Secretary reiterated that a decision was taken in the interest of the country.“If every state starts giving additional 5 kgs, apart from the Union Government’s PMGKAY, then they (Union Government) won’t be able to meet the demand. We distribute around 360 lakh metric tonnes of rice under PMGKAY, and if we have to distribute an additional 5 kgs to each state then we won’t be able to maintain our buffer stock” said Sanjeev Chopra.Meanwhile, on the poor response to the Union Government’s first e- auction of rice through OMSS, the Union Food Secretary said as it was the first e-auction of rice, and future response from the traders would pick up in the upcoming e-auctions. He said the conditions of the OMSS would be analysed if the response does not improve, adding that the Union Government was always open for changes.
In the first e- auction held on July 5, FCI had received bids only from three states out of 19 states. Against the offered 3.86 lakh metric tonnes, only 170 metric tonnes was purchased by small traders.
