Govt mulls tweaking OMSS norms as buyers show no interest
New Delhi: As the Food Corporation of India (FCI) didn’t find any buyer for its rice under Open Market Sale Scheme – Domestic (OMSS-D), the Food Ministry has mulled tweaking the norms for procurement under the scheme.
However, the ministry is still firm on its stand that states would not be allowed to procure rice for their schemes under the OMSS-D as the scheme is meant for price stabilisation of rice in the retail market and ensure availability of rice for 140 crore population.
In a hurriedly called press conference, Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said that it’s just of the scheme and the ministry will continue to float tenders for rice procurement under the OMSS-D till end of FY24.
“It’s a totally new initiative and done in the larger interest of 140 crore people for their welfare by utilising the surplus stock. The scheme has been rolled out keeping in view the El Nino effect that may affect the supply of essential food grains such as wheat and rice,” the secretary said.
“Tweaking a policy is a dynamic and continuous process. The moment, we find that there is a requirement of making changes in the policy; it would be done to ensure that it meets its objectives,” he said, adding, “We would wait for some couple of months.”
“FCI doesn’t do OMSS for rice. It’s an attempt to send a signal to the market that the government has enough stock to bring the prices down.
The move has directly impacted the Karnataka government’s Anna Bhagya scheme, which offers free rice to poor people, as the state has put the scheme on a halt. The Congress party government in the state started Direct Benefit Scheme in place of Anna Bhagya under which each beneficiary would be paid Rs 170 in cash to purchase rice from the retail market.
Notably, in the e-auction on July 5, FCI had offered to sell 3.86 lakh metric tonnes of rice across 19 states and NEF (North East Frontier) region. A maximum of 1.5 lakh metric tonnes was for Punjab, followed by Tamil Nadu (49,000 metric tonnes) and Karnataka (33,000 metric tonnes).
However, as per the information available on the website of M Junction Services Ltd, a platform through which the FCI conducted the auction, FCI received bids in three states — Maharashtra (70 metric tonnes), Gujarat (50 metric tonnes) and Karnataka (40 metric tonnes) – and the NEF Region (10 metric tonnes).
Surprisingly, no sale happened in the remaining 16 states and UTs of Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Nagaland, Delhi, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, and Rajasthan.
