Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Textiles and Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal launched the sale of Rice under ‘Bharat’ brand and flagged off 100 mobile vans here today.

While addressing the event, Shri Goyal said the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is sensitive towards the needs of the people of the country. It is under his watch that price of essential commodities is being kept in check.

The Union Minister said the Government of India is committed towards welfare of farmers as well as people of the country. The Central government purchases essential commodities from farmers and sells them to consumers at subsidised rates whenever in need.

The launch of retail sale of ‘Bharat’ Rice will increase supplies in the market at affordable rates and will help in continued moderation of prices of this important food item. This is the latest among a series of steps taken by the Government of India towards the welfare of consumers.

‘Bharat’ Rice will be available at all physical and mobile outlets of Kendriya Bhandar, National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) and National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India (NCCF) from today and will be expanded to other retail outlets and e- commerce platforms. ‘Bharat’ brand rice will be sold in family friendly 5 Kg and 10 Kg Bags. Bharat Rice will be sold at maximum retail price (MRP) of Rs. 29/kg.

Bharat Atta is already being sold by these 3 agencies @ Rs. 27.50 per Kg in 5Kg and 10 Kg packsfrom their physical retail outlets, mobile vans as well as through some other retail networks and e commerce platforms. Similarly, Bharat Dal (chana dal) is also being sold by these 3 agencies @ Rs.60 per kg for 1kg pack and Rs.55 per kg for 30 kg pack along with onions @ Rs.25 per kg. Apart from these 3 agencies, state- controlled cooperatives of Telangana, Maharastra and Gujarat are also involved in retail sale of Bharat Dal. With the launch of sale of ‘Bharat’ Rice, consumers can get rice, atta, dal as well as onions from these outlets at fair and affordable prices.

Under the overall umbrella of PMGKAY (Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana),farmers, general consumers, over 80 crore beneficiaries under the Targeted Public Distribution System, as well as other groups like school children, children in anganwadis, adolescent girls, children in hostels etc. are receiving benefits in different ways.

For the farmers, GoI fixes MSP (Minimum Support Price) of food grains, pulses as well as coarse grains and millets. Nationwide procurement operations are undertaken to implement the PSS (Price Support Scheme) which ensures the benefit of MSP to farmers. In RMS 23-24, 262 LMT of wheat was procured from 21.29 lakh farmers at the declared MSP of Rs.2125 per quintal. The total value of procured wheat was Rs.55679.73 crores. In KMS 22-23, 569 LMT of rice was procured from 124.97 lakh farmers at the declared MSP of Rs. 2060 per quintal for Grade ‘A’ paddy. The total value of procured rice was Rs. 1,74,368.70 crores. In KMS 23-24, 414 LMT rice has been procured till 04.02.2024 from about 77.93 lakh farmers at the declared MSP of Rs 2203 per quintal for Grade ‘A’ paddy. The total value of procured rice is Rs.1,36,034 crore.