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New Delhi : Secretary, Department of Food & Public Distribution, GoI, Shudhanshu Pandey while briefing the media on July 5, 2021, about the department’s initiatives and achievements in the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) and procurement of foodgrains during current marketing season, said that the Centre is running the longest ever exercise of distributing free foodgrains to people during this pandemic time.
Pandey said that heights have been scaled this year in procurement of foodgrains. On this occasion, a presentation was shared with media by CMD, FCI, about the status of wheat and rice procurement during current marketing season.
During the presentation, Pandey informed that a record wheat procurement of 433.24 LMT was undertaken in RMS 2021-22 surpassing previous best of 389.93 LMT (RMS 20-21). He informed that the States of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and J&K recorded their best ever wheat procurement figure. He said that this year record 49.16 Lakh farmers have benefitted so far against 43.35 Lakh farmers last year. He further added that the One Nation, One MSP, One DBT scheme have been implemented across the country and an all-time high amount of Rs 84,369.19 crore was transferred directly into farmer’s account across India, according to a PIB release. The CMD, FCI, briefed about the rice procurement
Pandey said that a record quantity of 862.01 LMT paddy has been procured in KMS 2020-21 up to July 4, 2021, surpassing last year total procurement of 770.93 LMT paddy and if procurement continues it may reach around 900 LMT. He said that this year Punjab, Bihar, Gujarat, Telangana, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh surpassed their best ever procurement figure. He said an all time high 127.15 lakh farmershave benefited so far against 124.59 lakh farmers last year. He further informed that an all time high Rs 1,52,169.30 crore of MSP had transferred directly into farmers’ account.
Pandey further informed that under the PMGKAY scheme, a total of 305 LMT foodgrains had been lifted during PMGKAY-I & II (Apr 2020 – Nov 2020). He said that for PMGKAY-3 , total 78.26 LMT foodgrains had been lifted by the States/UTs for two months for May – June 2021.