‘Govt planning to supply fortified wheat via PDS’

The government is looking at fortifying wheat, rice and other grains being given through the Public Distribution System to cater to the nutritional security of nearly two-third of the country’s population.

Food and consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Monday that his ministry has chalked out plans for supplying fortified wheat and rice flour via PDS. “I have asked my department to look into fasttracking the matter.”

He said his ministry in talk with stakeholders on supplying nutritious food in a cost-effective manner through the PDS.

According to the Food Security Act, passed in 2013, every person is entitled to 5kg subsidised foodgrains per person every month at `1-3/kg. The total number of people enrolled under this scheme across the country is 23.3 crore.

Though the Act was implemented in 2013, only 11 states had rolled it out, Mr Paswan said adding that in the last three years, all states have been enrolled in it.

He also said that the Centre is linking ration cards to Aadhaar to weed out bogus ration cards. “A total of 2.33 crore ration cards have been deleted or cancelled.”

He said at present, there are over 20 lakh tonnes of pulses in the buffer stock, adding that the problem now is how to distribute it. He also said the production of pulses has gone up this year and farmers are not getting the right price. However, the higher output has helped retail prices cool down.