Gujarat govt misses bajra procurement date as striking PDS shop owners refuse to distribute old stock

“But the process could not be started as some stock of millets procured during the previous season is yet to be distributed among the public through FPS and the Central government permits fresh procurement only after the old stock has been distributed,” added Bavaliya.

A bajra field in Rajkot district in August this year. Express photo

According to official data, 8,981 farmers from Gujarat have registered to sell their bajra to the government. However, for jowar and ragi, only nine and 16 farmers respectively have got themselves registered. In the previous season, these numbers were 15,325, 283, and seven respectively.

Government sources said in the Rabi marketing season (RMS) 2023-24, the Centre had given Gujarat a target of procuring 45,000 metric tonnes (mt) of bajra, 4,000 metric tonnes of jowar and 1,000 metric tonnes of ragi from the state’s farmers and then distribute these cereals among the poor as part of the International Year of Millets (IYM).

However, Gujarat State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited (GSCSC), an undertaking of the Gujarat government which was given the task of procurement by the Food Corporation of India (FCI), overachieved the target and managed to procure 56,645 MTs bajra. It also procured 685 mt of jowar.

In place of wheat, the RMS 2023-24 bajra was then distributed among more than 72.51 lakh ration card holder families of Gujarat covered under NFSA in August, September and October.

Bavaliya said the reminder stock of bajra is to be distributed in November. “We are hopeful of managing to distribute the remaining stock of bajra over the next few days. Once the stock is cleared, the Central government will permit us to start procurement of Kharif bajra and subsequently, we will call farmers to bring their harvest to our procurement centres,” he added.

Government officers said the stock of bajra has already been dispatched to FPS. “However, the public distribution system (PDS) now requires online authentication by beneficiaries that they have received the ration. Therefore, while we have dispatched bajra to FPS for distribution in the month of November, the actual distribution starts today and will go on till around November 7. We are hopeful the distribution will be done within the next few days and the Central government will give a green signal for fresh procurement,” said an officer.

“Gujarat was the only state of India which responded to the Central Government’s call to procure millets as part of the IYM and managed to distribute them among eligible families through PDS.”

Families covered under the Antoydaya Anna Yojana get 15 kg of wheat and 20 kg of rice per month. Priority households get two kg of wheat per person per month.

However, around 17,000 FPS owners of Gujarat went on strike on Wednesday, demanding that the government assure them of a minimum monthly commission of Rs 20,000.

A government release said that as per a meeting with FPS owners held in September last year, the state government agreed to make good the deficit if the owner of an FPS servicing less than 300 NFSA ration cards. Thus, the government paid Rs 3.53 crore to 3,400 such shop owners as gap funding for September 2023.

But Rajendrasinh Jadeja, secretary, All Gujarat FPS Association, said the government resolution of September 2, 2023, which promised deficit funding to FPS, was arbitrary and a meeting between representatives of FPS owners and the Minister remained inconclusive on Wednesday.

“We told the government that the eligibility criteria of less than 300 NFSA ration cards getting the benefit of gap funding was added after our meeting on September 30, 2022 meeting and thus arbitrary. The government decision is also unfair as an FPS owner serving 301 ration cards could be distributing more ration than an FPS with less than 300 ration cards and yet could be earning Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 commission while the latter would get Rs 20,000. The Food, Civil Supply and Consumer Affairs Minister sought time to resolve the issue and thus the meeting remained inconclusive. Therefore, we have decided to continue our strike,” Jadeja said.

All Gujarat FPS Association and Gujarat FPS and Kerosene Licence-holders Association are the two organisations of FPS owners in Gujarat and the latter is headed by Prahlad Modi, younger brother of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Presently, FPS owners get Rs 1.5 commission per kg of ration they distribute. They get Rs 3 commission per pouch of edible oil, and 75 paise per bag of salt, Hitubha Jadeja, convenor of the media cell of Saurashtra-Kutch FPS Association said.

But Bavaliya said the government has already met the genuine demands of FPS owners.

“At a meeting, we had held with the FPS Owners Association in September, the government agreed to fund the deficit of the owner of an FPS, where less than 300 ration cards have been registered, if he or she gets a commission lower than Rs20,000 per month,” the Minister told The Indian Express.

“Accordingly, the government paid Rs 3.53 crore to such FPS owners and ensured that they got at least Rs20,000 commission for the month of September. But now, owners of FPS where more than 300 ration cards are registered are also demanding that the government pay them directly. This is not a fair demand but a result of an internal dispute among FPS owners,” he added.

As the tussle continues, farmers will have to wait to sell their bajra to the government at the Centre-fixed MSP of Rs 2,500 and Rs 300 bonus over and above the MSP declared by the state government. This has hiked the effective MSP to Rs 2,800 per quintal, significantly higher than the Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,350 farmers are getting in agricultural produce marketing committee (APMC) mandis in the state.

“The Rs 300 bonus was originally declared for farmers who sold their bajra during summer. In the interest of farmers, the state government has decided to give a bonus to farmers who will sell their bajra to the government this season also,” Bavaliya added.

To avail the higher prices, 4,620 farmers from Banaskantha district, 827 from Bhavnagar, 778 from Kutch, 501 from Anand, 579 from Mahisagar, 368 from Arvalli and 356 from Gir Somnath have registered themselves for selling their bajra to the government, official data shows.

In the Kharif Marketing Season (KMS), 2022-23, the government had managed to procure 765.8 mt of bajra from 1,040 farmers though more than 15,000 had registered. The procurement was worth Rs 1.79 crore, official data shows.

“The FCI has given us a target of procuring 50,000 mt bajra in the KMS 2023-24 as well. To fund this procurement, we have availed Rs 600 crore loan from Gujarat State Finance Corporation Limited as FCI pays us very late and we need liquidity to run our other operations,” a GSCSC officer said, requesting anonymity.