Move to hike buffer stock of foodgrains ahead of polls

With the Congress planning to vigorously roll out the National Food Security Act ahead of this year’s general election, as it believes this could match UPA-1’s NREGA as a vote-winner, the government is all set to finalise new norms to raise the level of foodgrain buffer stocks from 99.30 metric tonnes to 162.35 metric tonnes a year.
Government sources said a decision on this is likely at the Union Cabinet’s meeting on Thursday.
“The entire exercise is aimed at warding off grain shortages once all states start implementing the ambitious NFSA. The plan is to increase the buffer stock and strategic reserve limits of the Food Corporation of India for both wheat and rice,” a government source said.
This could push up the requirement by a little over 60 per cent from the current norm, sources said, adding an earlier exercise to alter the buffer norm was done in 2005.
After that an extra five million tonnes of wheat and rice was added as strategic reserve from 2009.
The plan to hike the buffer stock and strategic reserve is on the basis of a study by the National Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research.