The government on Tuesday announced a ‘Bharat rice’ subsidy of Rs 29 per kg to provide relief to consumers following a 15 per cent rise in the retail price of rice last year.
Food and Nutrition Minister Piyush Goyal, who introduced subsidized rice in 5 kg and 10 kg packages, said that the government is working to ensure that people have access to food every day at affordable prices.
According to the intervention of retailers, rice will be sold under the brand name ‘Bharat’ at Rs 29 per kg to provide convenience to middle and poor consumers.
The government started selling rice and chickpeas or chana under the brand name “Bharat”.
Goyal added that the government’s efforts have helped the prices of tomatoes and onions drop rapidly.
“Wheat inflation has been zero in the last six months since we started selling Bharat atta. “We will see the same effect in rice,” the official said, adding that the price of the commodity entering the middle plate is quite stable. “The government has decided to give Bharat Rice at the lowest price,” he said.
To sell rice across the country After providing 100 trucks, he distributed 5 kg packets of ‘Bharat Rice’ to five beneficiaries.
Food Corporation of India (FCI) to start supplying 500,000 trucks National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed), India National Cooperative Consumer Tonnes of rice was given to the Federation (NCCF) and Kendriya Bhandar.
Officials said the Mint had earlier announced that the government would provide Barat rice to consumers at Rs 29 per kg from community participation to reduce costs and the Food Corporation of India (FCI) 50 Tons of rice will be unloaded for retail sales for the first time.
FCI, Nafed and NCCF will pack the grains in 5 kg and 10 kg packs and sell them under the brand name ‘Bharat’ through their outlets. Rice will also be sold through e-commerce platforms.
Goyal said the number of stores, including transportation and e-commerce sites, will increase from the current 8,000-9,000 to around 18,000.
The government adopted the sale of FCI rice after it sold rice to consumers at the same price through the Open Market Sales Scheme (OMSS) but did not receive an adequate response.
The government expects “Bharat Rice” to get a good response, just like “Bharat atta”, “Bharat atta” is sold at Rs 27.5 per kg and “Bharat chana” is sold at Rs 60 per kg. Same organization.
Sharing his own experience, Goyal said that he started using ‘Bharat dal’ and ‘Bharat atta’ and both were delicious.
“Now I will have ‘Bharat Rice’. This will be good too,” he added.
The Reserve Bank of India warned at last month’s interest rate meeting that food inflation could return. Recently, the government has introduced various measures to contain the cost of food, which accounts for almost half of all consumer baskets, rising from 8.70% in November to 9.5% in December.
