With the Food Corporation of India (FCI) reiterating its position of not providing more food grains to States under its Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS), the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC) is negotiating with the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India (NCCF) and other States to procure the additional quantity of 50,000 tonnes to 60,000 tonnes a month of rice that it needs.
While the NCCF has quoted a price of ₹35.45 per kg of rice, the TNCSC is awaiting a response from States such as Andhra Pradesh, Telengana and Chhattisgarh on their prices. “As soon as we get the quotes from the others too, we will send a proposal to the government,” said an official. The State plans to get six lakh tonnes of rice, which can take care of its requirements for the next 10 months.
The monthly allocation by the Centre to Tamil Nadu is approximately 2.97 lakh tonnes of rice for the public distribution system (PDS) under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). Over and above this quantity, the State requires, on an average, 50,000 tonnes to 60,000 tonnes per month, given the fact that it has over 2.2 crore rice-drawing ration cards. One of the routes used by the State traditionally to meet the shortfall is to purchase rice from the FCI under the OMSS. Had this route been available now, the State would have got rice at ₹34 per kg. At times, other sources have also been also tapped: five years ago, the State had purchased rice from the NCCF and other States too. Between December 2022 and March 2023, it bought 3 lakh tonnes from the NCCF.
This time however, the NCCF has conveyed to the State that though it is agreeable to supply rice at the previous year’s rate of ₹35.45 per kg, it will deliver the grain at the railhead of district headquarters, from which it is for the TNCSC to transport rice to its godowns. Last year, the NCCF supplied rice at the doorstep of the godowns. Consequent to the NCCF’s change of plan, the local transportation cost will be ₹0.5 per kg, effectively increasing the cost of procurement to ₹35.95 per kg.
Besides the options of purchasing rice from the NCCF or other States, the TNCSC has the option of retaining, if needed, the paddy procured from farmers in the State for itself instead of contributing to the Central pool. This arrangement is allowed as Tamil Nadu is one of the Decentralised Procurement (DCP) States. During the Kharif Marketing Season 2022-23, 7 lakh tonnes were retained by the State for local requirements. By September or October when the harvest of the Kuruvai season takes places, the stock position of the TNCSC will get replenished.
At present, the State has a stock of 5.4 lakh tonnes of rice at its godowns. Besides, around 1.9 lakh tonnes are available with millers and this quantity will eventually be available for the PDS. Pointing out that normally, the State keeps a stock of two months, the official hoped that there would be no problem in supplying rice in adequate quantities to ration cardholders.
