Food subsidy of Rs 45,125 cr released till Dec 15: govt

Against the food subsidy budget of Rs 60,572 crore for the current fiscal, the government has already released Rs 45,125 crore towards it by December 15, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.

The food subsidy bill was Rs 62,929,56 crore in 2010-11 and Rs 58,242.45 crore in the previous fiscal, Food and Public Distribution Minister K V Thomas said in during the Question Hour.

The difference between economic cost of foodgrains and Central Issues Prices fixed for Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) and Other Welfare Schemes (OWS) is incurred by the central government as food subsidy.

Food subsidy is released to Food Corporation of India and state governments undertaking procurement of foodgrains under Decentralised Procurement Scheme.

During the current fiscal, 488.74 lakh tonnes foodgrains have been allocated to the beneficiaries under the TPDS, the minister said. The Centre provides foodgrains at subsidised prices to the targeted population under TPDS and OWS.

The minister said Uttar Pradesh has given the highest quantity of subsidised foodgrains (71.13 lakh tonnes) followed by Maharashtra (46.47 lakh tonnes).

Talking about leakages, the Minister said strengthening and streamlining of the system is being done on a continuous basis.

"The government also issues instructions from time to time to states/union territories to strengthen the functioning of TPDS by improving monitoring mechanism and vigilance, increase on a regular basis," he added.