Procurement of wheat by government agencies reaches all-time high; Cong and Left sponsored propaganda of mismanagement of food grains by GoI falls flat

Last month during the 5th phase of the lockdown, Cong and Left backed propaganda news portals had accused the central government of mismanaging the food grains. They had accused that the government of wasting 65 lakh tonnes of grains and also of failing to distribute it to the poor. However, the propaganda was found false as the news outlets had neither taken the food grains in transit into account nor the actual stock positions at storage points.

Now, the latest figures revealed by the Central government show that procurement of wheat from farmers by Government agencies has touched an all-time record figure on June 16, when total procurement for the Central pool reached 382 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) surpassing the earlier record of 381.48 LMT achieved during 2012-13. This has been accomplished during the trying times of Covid-19 pandemic when the whole country was under lockdown.

During the same period, 119 Lakh MT paddy was also procured by the government agencies through 13,606 purchase centers. Maximum procurement was done by Telangana which contributed 64 LMT followed by Andhra Pradesh with 31 LMT, reveals government records.

A PIB press release notes that extraordinary efforts have been made by state governments and all government procuring agencies led by Food Corporation of India (FCI) to ensure that wheat is procured from farmers without any delay and in a safe manner. The number of purchase centers was increased from 14,838 to 21,869 this year by opening procurement centers in all possible locations, in addition to traditional mandis.

All over India, 42 Lakh farmers have been benefited and a total amount of about Rs. 73,500 crore has been paid to them towards Minimum Support Price for wheat. The hefty inflow of food grains into Central pool ensured that FCI is ready to meet any additional requirement of food grains for the people of the country in coming months.

Madhya Pradesh became the largest contributor to Central pool with 129 LMT wheat, surpassing Punjab which procured 127 LMT. Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan also made significant contributions to the national procurement of wheat. State wise procurement of wheat and paddy is as follows-