Estimate eligible families for Rs. 3 a kg food grains: EGoM

The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on Friday urged the Planning Commission to work out the number of Below the Poverty Line (BPL) households and the households' size that would be eligible for Rs. 3 per kg discounted food grains under the proposed National Food Security Bill.

The Tendulkar Committee report placed the BPL percentage at 37.2 which, at the 2005 population and household size, works out to about 7.14 crore households as against 6.52 crore households at present.

Statements made by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia indicated that the Commission had accepted the Tendulkar panel findings and that 35 kg of subsidised food grains would be given to each BPL household.

However, the government is yet to declare its official position.

For the second time, the EGoM, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, took no decision on the proposal of the Food Ministry to enhance the quantum of food grain allocation for the Above Poverty Line (APL) population from 10 to 15 kg per family per month. This would entail an outgo of 4.57 lakh tonnes of food grains per month.

The Ministry's argument was that the Food Corporation of India had to incur huge carrying costs (about Rs. 3,742 crore per tonne per annum) on stored grain, which could be offset by raising the allocation for APL cardholders.

The EGoM also deferred a decision on imposing a duty up to 40 per cent on imported wheat to discourage imports when the government is saddled with huge stocks.

Roller flour millers and bulk buyers are said to be opting for imported wheat as the international price is lower than the domestic prices.

The landed cost of wheat from Australia is said to be around Rs. 10.80 paise per kg, while the cost of wheat transported from Punjab to Chennai costs over Rs. 14 per kg after taking mandi taxes, transportation and labour charges into account.