MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

• 9.1. DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
• 9.1.1. ANTYODAYA ANNA YOJANA (AAY)
• To target poorest of poor population and provide them relief from hunger
• Landless agriculture labourers, marginal farmers, rural artisans /craftsmen and persons earning their livelihood on daily basis in the informal sector.
• Households headed by widows or terminally ill persons/disabled persons/ persons aged 60 years or more with no assured means of subsistence or societal support;
• Widows or terminally ill persons or disabled persons or persons aged 60 years or more or single women or single men with no family or societal support or assured means of subsistence
• All primitive tribal households;
• All eligible Below Poverty Line (BPL) families of HIV positive persons.
• It covers poorest of the poor families from amongst the BPL families covered under Targeted Public Distribution System within the States and provides them food grains at a highly subsidized rate of Rs.1/ per kg coarse grains, Rs.2/ per kg. for wheat and Rs. 3/ per kg for rice.
• In order to identify the households, the guidelines are stipulated according to the following criteria like landless agriculture labourers, marginal farmers, rural artisans /craftsmen etc. and Households headed by widows or terminally ill persons/disabled persons/ persons aged 60 years or more with no assured means of subsistence or societal support.
• It is a part of NFSA (National Food Security Act) and the households under AAY are entitled to 35 Kg of foodgrains per household per month
• States/UTs are required to bear the distribution cost, including margin to dealers and retailers as well as the transportation cost.
• 9.1.2. TARGETED PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM (TPDS)
• To identify the poor households and giving them a fixed entitlement of food grains, rice and/ or wheat, at specially subsidized prices.
• The National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) provides for all India coverage of upto 75% of the rural population and up to 50% of the urban population of the country for receiving highly subsidized foodgrains. Thus, the coverage under TPDS has been delinked from the poverty estimates.
• It is operated under the joint responsibility of the Central and the State/Union Territory (UT) Governments.
• Central Government is responsible for procurement, allocation and transportation of foodgrains upto the designated depots of the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
• State/UT Governments is responsible for the operational responsibilities for allocation and distribution of foodgrains within the States/UTs, identification of eligible beneficiaries, issuance of ration cards to them and supervision over and monitoring of functioning of Fair Price Shops (FPSs).
• Under National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) , the targeted households are entitled to 5kg food grains per person per month at rates Rs.1/ per kg coarse grains, Rs.2/ per kg. for wheat and Rs. 3/ per kg for rice.
• The end retail price is fixed by the States/UTs after taking into account margin for wholesalers/ retailers, transportation charges, levies local taxes etc.
• 9.1.3. INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
• Implementation of nation-wide portability in food grains distribution.
• Creation of national level data repository for de-duplication of beneficiary data (Aadhaar based)
• Use of advanced data analytics techniques to bring about continuous improvements
• It is a central sector scheme with following objective:
• To integrate PDS system of States/UTs with Central System.
• Introduction of National Portability: provide the option to PDS beneficiaries to lift their entitled foodgrains from the Fair Price Shops (FPS) of their choice at the national level.
• It is in continuation of ‘End-to-End Computerization of PDS Operations’ to bring more transparency and efficiency in distribution of foodgrains.
• 9.2. DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS
• 9.2.1. PRICE STABILIZATION FUND (PSF)
• To mitigate volatility in the prices of agricultural produce like onion, potatoes and pulses
• It was set up in 2014-15 under the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Famers Welfare (DAC&FW) and it was transferred from DAC&FW to the Department of Consumer Affairs (DOCA) w.e.f. 1st April, 2016.
• The Fund aims to establish price stability through
• Promotion of direct purchase from farmers /farmers’ associations at farm gate/Mandi.
• Maintaining a strategic buffer stock that would discourage hoarding and unscrupulous speculation.
• Protecting consumers by supplying such commodities at reasonable prices through calibrated release of stock.
• It is a Central Sector Scheme.
• The Fund will be managed by Prize Stabilization Fund Management Committee which will approve all proposals from state government and central agencies and it will be maintained in a Central Corpus Fund account to be opened by Small Farmers Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC), which will act as Fund Manager.
• Funding –
• The States will have to set up a revolving fund to which Centre and State will contribute equally (50:50).
• The Ratio will be 75:25 in North East states.
• 9.2.2. OTHER SCHEMES
• Digitally Safe Consumer Campaign
• It has been launched by the ministry in collaboration with Google India on raising awareness about internet safety amongst Indian consumers.
• It aims to integrate the internet safety message into everyday tasks that the consumers undertake over the internet such as financial transactions, using e-mails, doing e-commerce or simply surfing the internet for information.
• INGRAM
• Integrated Grievance Redress Mechanism (INGRAM) has been launched by the Department of Consumer Affairs to create awareness, advise and redress consumer grievances.
• This portal will also act as a central registry to lodge consumer complaints.
• It will also bring all the stakeholders together onto a single platform.
• It provides facility of registering online grievances which will be redressed within 60 days.