Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution (India)
Encyclopedia
The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution is a government ministry
of India
. The Ministry is headed by a minister
of Cabinet rank. The current minister is Sharad Pawar
.
The ministry is divided into two departments, the Department of Food and Public Distribution and the Department of Consumer Affairs .
The objectives of the Department are to ensure.
(PDS) is a national food security
system that distributed subsidized
food to India's poor
. Major commodities distributed include wheat
, rice
, sugar
, and kerosene
. Surpluses of food from increased crop yield
s (as a result of the Green Revolution
and good monsoon
seasons) are managed by the Food Corporation of India
, established by the Food Corporation Act 1964, implements national policy for farm price support
, operations, procurement, storage, preservation, inter-state movement and distribution operations. PDS has a network of about 478,000 Fair Price Shops (FPS), perhaps the largest distribution network of its type in the world, operated by the Union Government
and state governments.
The department of that are considered essential,regulates the availability and takes measures thereof along with prescribing measures to see that the whole system works towards the food security of vulnerable a lot of motivation,provided waves of zeal to owners of shops to make them into mini mall type structures that could perforce supply the maximum choice of goods&services to population to be reached including beneficiaries in their allotted areas.This has also given them more of dignity,accountability,visibility, positive orientation and changed mind set to do well,improve upon their perceived image as one who indulged in diversion,pilferage or leakages that rocked from within, just for his own ends only. This precisely had been the guiding factor to go for a systemic change in the scope of activity &goods handling,that has been liked by other states and also drawn the attention of a set of young MPs who had been given a presentation on the same. Even the Minister in charge Mr Sharad Pawar was much impressed with this new approach and outlook for a change in the system since it was out of box thinking and this impressed him to tell other states to copy or study it for replication.
Ministry (government department)
A ministry is a specialised organisation responsible for a sector of government public administration, sometimes led by a minister or a senior public servant, that can have responsibility for one or more departments, agencies, bureaus, commissions or other smaller executive, advisory, managerial or...
of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. The Ministry is headed by a minister
Minister (government)
A minister is a politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional government. Senior ministers are members of the cabinet....
of Cabinet rank. The current minister is Sharad Pawar
Sharad Pawar
Sharadchandra Govindrao Pawar , popularly known as SAHEB , is the president of the Nationalist Congress Party which he founded in 1999, after separating from the Indian National Congress...
.
The ministry is divided into two departments, the Department of Food and Public Distribution and the Department of Consumer Affairs .
Department of Food and Public Distribution
The Department of Public Distribution is charged with management of the food economy of the country.The objectives of the Department are to ensure.
- Remunerative rates for our farmers
- The supply of food grains at reasonable prices to the consumers through the public distribution system
Public Distribution System
The Indian Public Distribution SystemPublic Distribution System
Public Distribution System is an Indian food security system. Established by the Government of India under Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution and managed jointly with state governments in India, it distributes subsidised food and non-food items to India's poor...
(PDS) is a national food security
Food security
Food security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. A household is considered food-secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. According to the World Resources Institute, global per capita food production has been increasing substantially for the past...
system that distributed subsidized
Subsidy
A subsidy is an assistance paid to a business or economic sector. Most subsidies are made by the government to producers or distributors in an industry to prevent the decline of that industry or an increase in the prices of its products or simply to encourage it to hire more labor A subsidy (also...
food to India's poor
Poverty in India
Poverty is widespread in India, with the nation estimated to have a third of the world's poor. According to a 2005 World Bank estimate, 41.6% of the total Indian population falls below the international poverty line of 1.25 a day...
. Major commodities distributed include wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
, rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
, sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
, and kerosene
Kerosene
Kerosene, sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage, also known as paraffin or paraffin oil in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Ireland and South Africa, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid. The name is derived from Greek keros...
. Surpluses of food from increased crop yield
Crop yield
In agriculture, crop yield is not only a measure of the yield of cereal per unit area of land under cultivation, yield is also the seed generation of the plant itself...
s (as a result of the Green Revolution
Green Revolution
Green Revolution refers to a series of research, development, and technology transfer initiatives, occurring between the 1940s and the late 1970s, that increased agriculture production around the world, beginning most markedly in the late 1960s....
and good monsoon
Monsoon
Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea...
seasons) are managed by the Food Corporation of India
Food Corporation of India
Food Corporation of India was setup on 14th January 1965 having its first District Office at Thanjavur - rice bowl of Tamil Nadu - and headquarters at Chennai under the Food Corporations Act 1964 to implement the following objectives of the National Food Policy :# Effective price support...
, established by the Food Corporation Act 1964, implements national policy for farm price support
Price support
In economics, a price support may be either a subsidy or a price control, both with the intended effect of keeping the market price of a good higher than the competitive equilibrium level....
, operations, procurement, storage, preservation, inter-state movement and distribution operations. PDS has a network of about 478,000 Fair Price Shops (FPS), perhaps the largest distribution network of its type in the world, operated by the Union Government
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
and state governments.
Department of Consumer Affairs
The Department of Consumer affairs administers the policies for Consumer Cooperatives, Monitoring Prices, availability of essential commodities, Consumer Movement in the country and Controlling of statutory bodies like Bureau of Indian Standards(BIS) and Weights and Measures.- Standards of Weights and Measures
- The Bureau of Indian Standards
- Consumer Cooperatives
- Forward Markets Commission, Mumbai.
- Monitoring of Prices and Availability of essential commodities
- The Consumer Protection Act, 1986
- Consumer Welfare Fund
The department of that are considered essential,regulates the availability and takes measures thereof along with prescribing measures to see that the whole system works towards the food security of vulnerable a lot of motivation,provided waves of zeal to owners of shops to make them into mini mall type structures that could perforce supply the maximum choice of goods&services to population to be reached including beneficiaries in their allotted areas.This has also given them more of dignity,accountability,visibility, positive orientation and changed mind set to do well,improve upon their perceived image as one who indulged in diversion,pilferage or leakages that rocked from within, just for his own ends only. This precisely had been the guiding factor to go for a systemic change in the scope of activity &goods handling,that has been liked by other states and also drawn the attention of a set of young MPs who had been given a presentation on the same. Even the Minister in charge Mr Sharad Pawar was much impressed with this new approach and outlook for a change in the system since it was out of box thinking and this impressed him to tell other states to copy or study it for replication.
Organizations
The Public Sector Undertaking (PSU)s under the administrative control of Dept. of Public Distribution are:- Food Corporation of IndiaFood Corporation of IndiaFood Corporation of India was setup on 14th January 1965 having its first District Office at Thanjavur - rice bowl of Tamil Nadu - and headquarters at Chennai under the Food Corporations Act 1964 to implement the following objectives of the National Food Policy :# Effective price support...
(FCI) - Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC)