On the Food Corporation of India (FCI)'s 58th Foundation Day, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said that FCI was founded on this very auspicious day in 1965 at an auspicious place i.e. the city of Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu.
Underlining the fact that FCI is the main central agency for execution of food policies of the government. Goyal said that FCI has come a long way in realizing the dream of India being a self-sufficient nation.
Praising the way FCI has carried out the world's largest food supply chain system especially during the pandemic to ensure seamless supply of foodgrains under the "Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anya Yojana", the Minister has said that FCI has not only become an important organization but also one of the most valuable organisations having stood in testing times.
"Today, FCI procures nearly 1,300 LMT of wheat and paddy annually against nearly 13 LMT procured during 1965. Similarly, distribution across the country has increased from about 18LMT in 1965 to nearly 600 LMT. Even the storage capacity from 6 LMT in 1965 has increased to over 800 LMT now," Goyal said highlighting the journey of FCI while addressing the video conference.
He said that the statistics reflects how FCI has taken responsibility but also indicates that there's scope of bettering the transparency. He directed to prepare a layout on how to strengthen better delivery to the people of the nation. "Our Vision and Mission should be Quality," he said.
He gave 5 sutras to better FCI's progress:
1) Change the public perception of FCI from being inefficient & corrupt to dynamic, inclusive & honest.
2) Focus on integrating end-to-end tech solutions right from procurement to delivery to achieve operational efficiency & leakage free, distribution - reduce PDS response time, beneficiary tracking etc.
3) Establish a grievance redressal mechanism to react rapidly to farmer/Farmer Producer Organisation in distress. Reaching out to farmers through "Jan Jagrukta" programmes at grass-root level to spread awareness.
4) Plan for modern infrastructure & logistics. Upgrade warehouses to international standards. Improve storage capacity for the growing need- Power backup, CCTV, robust network facility.
5) Global best practices to make India a 'Food hub'." Shri Goyal said.
Emphasis should be to improve India's rating in Global Hunger Index
He said that it's important that emphasis should be on improving India's rating in the Global Hunger index. This could be achieved by adding more nutritional value in people's diet.
He directed FCI to simplify the processes, free the organization from discretionary power, make a robust testing mechanism of foodgrains, review sampling techniques & revise as per international standards.
Goyal said, "We keep talking about the green revolution - I & II. But as the Prime Minister said, the goal should be "Evergreen revolution" - Food security is not enough, focus should be on "Nutritional Security"."
FCI does 'remarkable job'
MoS Ashwini Kumar Choubey said that FCI has done a remarkable job by observing its foundation day by way of plantation drive across the country showing its concern for environmental issues.
MoS Ms. Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti applauded the remarkable job of FCI during the recent pandemic times by ensuring sufficient supply of food grains in every part of the country especially to vulnerable sections of the society under Pradhan Mantri's visionary schemes of PMGKAY.
Sudhanshu Pandey, Secretary (Food) also addressed the officers and officials of FCI and applauded the transformation efforts being made by FCI, especially the recent initiatives to ensure transparency and enhanced efficiency which includes introduction of HRMS of Employees, Bill Tracking System, Depot Online System, Enhancement of capacity by increasing Stack sizes, Asset Monetization, Age Testing of Rice and Direct Benefit Transfer of MSP to farmers account.
Atish Chandra, CMD, FCI said that FCI is blessed to have continuous support of the government under the leadership of the Prime Minister to carry out its activities.
