New Delhi: A year after the Narendra Modi government stopped supplying rice to the Siddaramaiah-led Karnataka government for its flagship Anna Bhagya scheme, citing poor monsoon, high prices, and a potential Kharif crop shortage, the Congress claimed that the decision was a "vendetta-driven decision," as a recently released report revealed that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) had been storing three times the required buffer of rice all along.
The Hindustan Times reported on July 4 that the Centre would start selling rice to the states again since it was becoming more and more expensive to keep any more rice stocked in the FCI, the Centre's main grain handling facility.
In addition to inflating the food subsidy bill by nearly "Rs 16000-18000 crore" when the Modi government presents its full budget at the end of July, the daily stated that "constraints of storage space" and "high costs of maintaining surplus reserves" have forced it to resume selling its products on the open market and to states. As a result, the Food Ministry has suggested the "liquidation of excess stocks" to an inter-ministerial group headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to monitor inflation and food management, the Wire reported.
According to the report, FCI's total stock of rice has reached almost 50 million tonnes, more than three times the approved buffer minimum of 13.54 million tonnes. The FCI is also expecting another 17 million tonnes from millers, which will put additional pressure on it to open up storage space.
Last year, the Centre's decision to suspend rice sales to states sparked demonstrations in southern states such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka. The newly-elected Congress government in Karnataka, in particular, had protested massively, alleging that the Centre's move was a vindictive decision to stop the Siddaramaiah government from carrying out one of its flagship election promises, which aimed to provide an additional 5 kilogrammes of rice to people apart from centre's free ration scheme.