Revamp public procurement

It is extremely deplorable that rice meant to be sold to the poor at highly subsidised rates through the public distribution system (PDS) is being diverted from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to rice mills located in Punjab and Haryana. In a recent raid Punjab Government officials have found more than 36,000 bags of unbilled rice, bearing stamps of UP and Bihar PDS from four mills in Jalandhar and Kapurthala. Could this be the tip of the iceberg? The Tribune had earlier reported that some unscrupulous mills in Haryana had illegally accumulated PDS rice that would be passed as freshly-milled rice from the paddy procured by the government agencies this season under the minimum support price (MSP) scheme. More than 1.25 lakh bags or about 62,500 quintals of rice were found from some millers in Karnal during the raids even before the start of FCI’s paddy procurement process for the Kharif 2018. This could be the reason why Haryana, which produces about 45 lakh MT of paddy, is forced to procure about 60 lakh MT of the crop every year. 

It is not just confined to paddy. Other crops such as wheat from western UP and bajra from Rajasthan get mixed in the procurement process of Punjab and Haryana. Corrupt traders found opportunity to purchase bajra from Rajasthan at Rs 1,200 per quintal and pass it as the crop growth in Haryana because the state has assured to procure bajra at the officially announced MSP of Rs 1,950 per quintal.

Problem lies in the Centre’s announcement of lucrative MSPs without procurement infrastructure, except for Punjab and Haryana. In want of assured procurement, farmers of other states are forced to sell their produce to traders much below the MSP, which finds its way to Haryana and Punjab. Besides loss to the exchequer, the system is unable to protect the intended beneficiaries — the farmer, who does not get the promised price for the crop, and the poor, who is unable to get the subsidised PDS rice. The solution lies in a strict vigilance on the official procurement process through an online tracking system.