It seems that the Union Government is not in favour of
lifting all surplus parboiled rice from Odisha, for which the BJD
Government is fighting for a long time.
This was indicated in a written reply given by Union Minister of State
for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Sadhvi Niranjan
Jyoti in Rajya Sabha on Saturday.
BJD MP Prasanna Acharya has asked, “Whether it is a fact that the Food
Corporation of India (FCI) has refused to receive surplus parboiled
rice from Odisha; if so, the reasons there of.”
In her reply, Sadhvi said a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was
signed between the Government of India and the State Government for
procurement of paddy from farmers.
A clause of the MoU stipulates that if the stocks of the rice procured
by the State Government exceeds its allocation under targeted PDS and
other welfare schemes, such excess stocks shall be handed over to FCI
by the State Government. However, FCI shall have the option to specify
whether such excess rice that would be handed over for Central pool by
the State Government shall be in the form of raw rice or parboiled
rice, to meet overall consumption requirement of the country.
Due to burgeoning stock levels of parboiled rice in the Central pool,
it was informed to the States that FCI will not be in position to
accept parboiled rice during Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2021-22.
However, States can procure parboiled rice for consumption within the
State, the Minister said.
Still, on the request of the Odisha Chief Minister, the Government of
India vide letter dated 03.11.2021 has allowed Odisha for delivery of
5 lakh MT of parboiled fortified rice to FCI during KMS 2021- 22 and
remaining surplus custom milled rice in the form of raw rice, she
informed.