Odisha needs more food grain for additional 15 lakh people:Min

Odisha government today said it requires more rice to feed additional 15 lakh people under the NFSA as the Centre allocates the food grain to the state based on the 2011 Census.
"Keeping in view the projected population growth from 2011 to 2017 and more importantly the backwardness of the state having higher density of SC/ST, I would request you to increase the upper celling of the state by 15 lakh individuals for coverage of left out eligible population into NFSA fold," Odisha's Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare minister S N Patro wrote to Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan.

Odisha has been allotted an upper celling of 3,26,41,800 individuals to be covered under NFSA, 2013 in priority Household and Antyodaya Anna Yojana Household categories, Patro mentioned in the letter.
He said the upper celling for the state has been determined as 82.17 per cent of rural population and 55.77 per cent of urban population with reference to the NSS Household Consumption Survey data for 2011-12 available with Planning Commission.
In obligation to the provisions of the Act, Patro said the state government has carried out beneficiary identification of the eligible household using the Census 2011 population data of the state. The state population as per the Census 2011 is 4,19,74,218. The state government has so far identified 3,23,45,133 individuals which is 99.09 per cent of the government of India upper celling and 77.06 per cent of Census 2011 population of Odisha, he said.

"There is a meagre cushion of target available with the state to cover number of eligible applications still pending at district level," the minister argued.
It is obvious that there would be around 4 to 5 per cent increase in the population of the state during last 6 years as evident from the trends of decadal growth rate in the state from the Census report, the projected population figure would be around 436.50 lakh which is less by around 14 lakh against the upper celling of 3,26,41,800 fixed by the central government, Patro pointed out.