In order to combat foodgrain inflation, the State government has issued an order limiting the storage of grain by millers and wholesale merchants. Farmer associations, however, feel this is a short-term measure and that the government should go for long-term measures such as local procurement, storage, and distribution.
“The State government has a unique opportunity to convert Anna Bhaya into ‘raitha bhagya’ by buying directly from farmers instead of procuring from mills and wholesale dealers,” said Sidagouda Modagi, Bharatiya Krishik Samaj president. “This will reduce the profit margins of intermediaries and ensure that homemakers get food at fair prices, while farmers get remunerative prices,” he said.
Raitha Samparka Kendras
“If the State government can sell fertilizer and other farm inputs to farmers through Raitha Samparka Kendras (RSKs) in hoblis, it can use them for buying from farmers. The government has 750 RSKs. It also has customer service centres in the 6,000 gram panchayats. The government had involved primary agricultural cooperatives in market intervention procurements in the past. This link can be revived,” he argued. The Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, too, has expressed a similar opinion. Sangha State president H.R. Basavarajappa has been demanding successive governments to procure foodgrains from local farmers.
Abhay Kumar, convener of the Grameen Kooli Karmikara Sangha, said the government should transform the process of the public distribution system by enabling the panchayat bodies to procure and distribute grain locally. “If they need capacity building, training, or infrastructure, the government is duty bound to provide them,” he said.
At the village level
Agricultural scientist Veerendra Patil, who submitted a proposal to the Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board about setting up micro-cleaning, grading, and storage units at village levels, agrees with this idea. He feels that village-level storehouses alone can do the job. “We can store the five lakh tonnes needed under the PDS in just 2,500 gram panchayats,” Dr. Patil argued. A full-fledged cleaning, grading, and storage unit in each village would cost around ₹5 lakh, as per his proposal.
Shivaleela Misale, coordinator of the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatan, demands that the State government address the issue of price rise by innovative methods such as distributing a food basket to every family, by enlarging the items handed out. The aggregated cost will ₹3,000 per month for a family of five, as per her estimate.
Number of card holders
The State has 1.28 crore ration cards, covering nearly five crore beneficiaries. Currently, 97,27,160 are eligible for the Anna Bhagya scheme, who hold either BPL or Antyodaya cards.
The Union Ministry releases 2.2 lakh tonnes of rice to Karnataka every month. The State government’s offer of buying another 2 lakh tonnes at the price of ₹37 a kg, including the cost of transportation, has not been accepted. The State government has resorted to direct benefit transfer (DBT) for 5 kg of rice per beneficiary, at ₹34 per kg, a total of ₹170 per beneficiary.
“Of the government’s five guarantee schemes, Anna Bhagya is the one with the most complex logistics requirements. That is because it requires a transfer in kind and not in cash. Around ₹560 crore is the monthly outgo through DBT alone,” an officer said.
What the order said
As per the order issued on Friday, the Karnataka government has fixed storage limits of 3,000 tonnes for millers, dealers or wholesalers, and 10 tonnes for retailers for foodgrains. The limits for dal and other lentils are 200 tonnes for wholesalers and 5 tonnes for retailers. These limits will be in force till March 2024 for foodgrains and September 2023 for dal and lentils. The order was issued under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.
(With additional inputs by Sathish G.T. from Hassan)
