State governments have been urged to open more purchasing centers and assess all necessary infrastructure requirements for increased procurement of foodgrains for implementation of Food Security Act. It should include storage space, credit and staff requirement. A meeting of food secretaries of various states has been convened in the second week of February by the government of India to review the arrangements for procurement of wheat for coming marketing season and other infrastructure requirements. In order to implement the National Food Security Act, requirement of foodgrains is estimated to be 614.3 lakh tons against the average procurement of 514 Lakh tons in last five years.
Under the National Food Security Act, the Centre will now provide assistance to states in meeting the expenditure incurred by them on transportation of foodgrains within the state, its handling and FPS dealers’ margin.
Under the National Food Security Act, the Centre will now provide assistance to states in meeting the expenditure incurred by them on transportation of foodgrains within the state, its handling and FPS dealers’ margin.