Pressure On Paswan To Revoke Freight Hike On Pds Grains

Food minister D P Yadav yesterday threw the ball of providing cheap foodgrains to the impoverished squarely into railway minister Ram Vilas Paswans court by asking him to withdraw the 30 per cent freight hike on movement of Public Distribution System (PDS) foodgrains which was introduced in the last railway budget.

Yadav pointed out that this would lift a burden of Rs 400 crore from the pricing of PDS foodgrains, making it possible for the government to provide wheat at Rs 2.50 per kg or at even lower rates to those below the poverty line.

Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and railway minister Ram Vilas Paswan considered the proposal at a meeting yesterday evening. With Yadav later joining in the consultations, the meeting was in progress well past 10 p m. A decision is likely to be announced today. Pending an announcement, yesterdays proposed meeting of the United Front steering committee was postponed for today.

 

The Left parties along with some regional parties have been opposing the governments proposal to raise the issue price of foodgrains substantially and then calculate the price for the foodgrains for the new PDS, which is targeted at the poorest of the poor.

The food ministry proposal, if accepted, will clear the way for pacifying the Left, which is already sharpening its weapons to take on Gowda on the issue of opening the insurance sector. However, the proposal is bound to upset the railway budget which is ready to be presented in Parliament next week. If the proposal is accepted, major changes will be required in the railway ministrys budget proposals.

Yadav yesterday declared that his ministry was committed to providing foodgrains at half the `normal price for the new PDS as envisaged in the UFs Common Minimum Programme. However, he declined to elaborate on how he proposed to achieve this target.

The normal price is higher than the central issue price (CIP) and lower than the fair price shop (FPS) price. The CIP is what the Central government fixes for different foodgrain items for distribution under the existing PDS scheme. Once the element of freight and handling is added to this which varies from state to state the FPS is determined. The normal price is the price at which the Central government hands over foodgrains to the state governments after transporting them to the states.