Covid-19 shouldn’t be used as an argument to raise buffer stocking norms

The controversial overflowing granaries have come in handy to feed the poor during the Covid-19 lockdown. But should that be used as an argument to raise buffer stocking norms?

Yesterday’s headache has inadvertently become today’s boon. The overflowing granaries that were, before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, a source of controversy for years, have enabled the Centre to ensure that a large chunk of the population, with livelihoods hit by the enforced lockdown, does not go hungry.

So much so, if Centre should wish to, it can distribute more than a year’s ration in advance to the 800 million beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act (NFSA). So far, it has decided to give three months’ ration in advance free, plus one kg of pulses per family (the choice of pulses varies according to regional taste).

According to the

Though unintentional, this could create the much-needed space for the new wheat harvest (which could, however, be delayed because of a Covid-19-related labour shortage).

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Assuming that the food grain offtake through the Public Distribution System (PDS) in April through June remain at the February 2020 levels, a back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that in normal course, around 9.3 million tonnes of wheat and rice would have been drawn out from public granaries. After the government’s decision to double the allocation, almost 19 million tonnes is expected to move out.

The healthy stock position and the ease with which not only the central government but the states, too, have been able to announce free dry rations for the poor has rekindled the long-standing debate as to whether India needs to raise its quarterly grain stocking norms to face crises such as Covid-19. The opinion has long been divided between the cost of maintaining a hefty buffer stock, way above prescribed norms, and the wastage that occurs because of the excessive amounts that are procured owing to India’s open-ended procurement policy. This is a real concern for the government that is badly strapped for cash — FCI has already made the unprecedented step of borrowing from the small savings pool to keep its operations going.

The Centre revises the buffer stocking norms for food grains every five years, and the last such revision occurred before the

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