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Public distribution system in the country done by the Food Corporation of India is struggling to carry out its food grain distribution operations due to nationwide lockdown.
About Food Corporation of India
- FCI is an organization formed by the Government of India for the purpose of creating a public distribution network throughout the nation .
- FCI is run in cooperation by both the central and state government.
- FCI is a statutory body which comes under direct control of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, GoI.
- FCI has its headquarters situated at New Delhi, and many regional centers in the capital of the states.
Objectives of Food Corporation of India
Objectives of Food Corporation of India formed under the Food Corporation Act 1964 are as follows:
- Maintaining the effective price support operations in order to safeguard the interest of poor farmers
- Effective management of Public Distribution System(PDS) to maintain proper distribution of foodgrains throughout the nation.
- In order to ensure National Food Security maintaining a satisfactory level of operational and buffer stocks.
- Effectively and efficiently regulating the market price so that these foodgrains are available to the consumers at reliable prices.
Impacts of Lockdown
- Outbreak of COVID-19 has forced the Indian government to put a lockdown throughout the nation and restrict all activities except for a few essential services.
- Though FCI being created and run by GoI it is facing difficulties in performing its duties as it has not been specifically in the exemption list of essential services.
- Because of FCI not being included in Exemption list, the officials and workers of FCI are stopped by the police and are not allowed to reach their workplace.
- FCI being the central agency in the nation to process and regulate procuring and distribution of foodgrains has been affected.
- In order to keep the supplies of foodgrain which comes under essential items the role of FCI is very important as many poor families are facing difficulties due to national lockdown.
