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A parliamentary standing committee on ‘Coarse grains production and distribution’ has suggested setting up at least one shop in each district through the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), Tribes India and women’s self-help groups (SHGs) to exclusively sell millets and millet-based products. The panel also asked the government to explore the possibility of distributing millets under the targeted public distribution system (TPDS) and other welfare schemes, as is already happening in some states.
In its report presented on August 7, the panel suggested that the exclusive outlets for millets and millet-based products would “introduce the variety of coarse grains to the people at one place and would give them liberty to choose coarse grains as per their taste”, according to an official release by the Lok Sabha.
Appreciating the government’s efforts in promoting coarse grains like millets, it hoped these efforts would be continued to help increase the production and consumption.
The committee expressed satisfaction over the revision in the 2014 guidelines on procurement, allocation, distribution and disposal of coarse grains as they address the difficulties faced by states. The 2021-22 guidelines have also enhanced the distribution period to 10 months from three and provided for inter-state transportation of surplus millets through the Food Corporation of India (FCI). These measures helped increase the number of states opting for millet procurement, it noted.
“The committee expressed their faith on the careful planning, strategy, and its meticulous implementation and appreciated the department for huge increase in allocation and distribution over the last few years,” the statement said. The panel hoped that the Department of Food and Public Distribution would continue in its attempts to cover more states in the coming years.
The committee commended the government for increasing the minimum support price (MSP) for coarse grains, leading to higher production.
Production of Shree Anna (jowar, bajra and ragi) increased to 17.15 million tonnes (mt) in 2022-23 from 16 mt in 2021-22.
The committee believed that there will be a spur in investment in cultivating Shree Anna and the increased production will aid the government initiatives for ‘Local for vocal’ and Atmanirbhar Bharat.
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