The genesis of the present crisis is in the past. Under fire for a low 1.57 per cent procurement share out of the total 120 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of paddy procured in Punjab last year, the Food Corporation of India (FCI), Punjab, had shot off a letter to the Food and Civil Supplies Ministry, Government of India, and its headquarters after the procurement process ended in the state, explaining the reasons for the same.

The letter highlighted how stringent inspection measures for the FCI led to decline in its share while the “under-specification” stocks of state procurement agencies, accounting for nearly 98 per cent of the total procurement, finally entered the central pool through the FCI.

“The procurement by state agencies is being virtually done by millers, who check the quality and lift the heap irrespective of its moisture content and percentage of foreign matter. The millers are accepting paddy with high moisture content without proper cleaning due to increased competition. Rice mills are mushrooming in Punjab, with the prices of paddy milling by-products, such as bran, husk and broken rice, shooting up by almost 100 per cent in the last few years,” said the letter sent by the then Punjab FCI general manager Sarvjit Singh.

“The truth is that the farmer, miller, arhtiyas (commission agent) as well as transporters come together to ensure that the FCI doesn’t enter the paddy procurement chain, rather than FCI being reluctant,” the letter adds.

“While the miller owns responsibility for the quality and quantity of the stock in the mandi, the FCI brings paddy to its own godowns and then issues it against advance delivery of rice. As the paddy remains in the custody of the FCI staff and is subject to supervision by seniors from the FCI and the Government of India, the FCI staff has to be very particular about the contentious issue of moisture content,” the FCI had said.

... contd.