‘Rice for poor’ finds way to Haryana mills

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 19

Public distribution system (PDS) rice meant for the poor has allegedly landed in some rice mills of Haryana, where it is likely to be recycled into the milling process for this year’s paddy by showing bogus procurement of the crop.

Following recovery of over 1.25 lakh bags (62,500 quintals) of rice with some millers in Karnal during raids, the authorities have ordered inspection of rice mills across the state from tomorrow.

Ram Niwas, Additional Chief Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumers Affairs, said he had received inputs that some unscrupulous millers had already stocked rice  before the milling season. “This was quite unusual, since there is little trading of Parmal Grade 1 variety in Haryana, and that too before the beginning of the new milling season. Recently, we had recovered bags of PDS rice of Punjab which was meant to go to some eastern state with a miller in Mullana (Ambala), which points to the possibility of PDS rice being recycled by some millers,” said Niwas.

The recoveries of PDS rice explain why Haryana, which produces 42-45 lakh MT of paddy per year, has to procure 58-60 lakh MT of the crop.

Sources maintain that while arrivals of paddy from western Uttar Pradesh is one reason, the recycling of PDS rice meant for poor is also a big reason behind this.

Sources explained that as per the figures of the State Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department, the acreage of paddy in Haryana in 2017 as well as in the current year was about 13 lakh hectares.

Of this, 45 per cent is of Basmati varieties, while 55 per cent is of PR Grade 1 (Parmal), which is procured by the government.

“With acreage of the Parmal variety being nearly 7 lakh hectares and average yield being 55 to 62.5 quintal per hectare, the total production of paddy in Haryana cannot be more than 40 to 45 lakh MT. However, the state had to procure 59.57 lakh MT of paddy last year,” the sources added. Ashok Mehta, patron of the Haryana Rice Millers Association, however, denied the allegations and said that it was true that rice has been recovered in some mills, but the millers had purchased this for trading from the open market.

“Rice is rice. It does not have any stamp of being PDS or other rice. It is correct that some millers do hoarding of rice before the milling season and may also try to push that stock as custom milled rice instead of the fresh one. But that is not a crime,” Mehta maintained.

How PDS rice is recycled

• State procurement agencies procure paddy on behalf of FCI
• Agencies allow millers to lift paddy as per their allocation 
• Millers are to supply 67-kg rice for every quintal of paddy to the FCI after its custom milling
• Some unscrupulous millers purchase paddy only on paper and push PDS rice bought for Rs 1,000 or more lower than market rate to the FCI
• The poor lose their share of subsidised rice while government loses by paying MSP for the crop that never was