(a) whether the Government has identified the poorest districts in the
country for providing additional quantum of foodgrains for distribution to the
poor as directed by the Supreme Court;
(b) if so, the details thereof, State-wise;
(c) whether there is any proposal to include some poor districts including
Gajapati of Odisha for the said purpose; and
(d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?
MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR CONSUMER AFFAIRS,
FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (PROF. K.V. THOMAS)
(a) to (d): Hon`ble Supreme Court in its orders dated 14.5.2011 and 14.9.2011
directed the Union of India, inter alia, to provide food grains for 150 poorest
districts of India or the extremely poor and vulnerable sections of our society
on priority basis and to reserve 5 million tons of food grains for distribution
for the purpose. The Court also requested the High Powered Committee headed by
Justice (Retd.) D.P. Wadhwa to identify the poorest districts or poorer segments
of the society and ensure that additionally allocated food grains reach this
segment from time to time.
Wadhwa Committee, in consultation with Planning Commission and on the requests
made by the State Governments, initially identified 174 poorest districts and made
recommendations for allocation of foodgrains for the additional Below Poverty Line
(BPL) and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) families in the identified districts.
Based on the above recommendations of Wadhwa Committee, Government allocated
23.69 lakh tons of foodgrains for these additional BPL and AAY families at BPL
and AAY prices respectively during 2011-12 for distribution in the poorest
districts of 27 States as identified by the Committee. The state-wise number
of districts and details of these allocations are at Annexure.
On the requests received from the States for inclusion of some additional
districts as poorest or backward, the Committee also made recommendations for
allocation of foodgrains for some additional districts other than the initially
identified 174 districts. On the recommendations of the Committee, additional
allocation of 15.40 lakh tons of foodgrains have been made in May, 2012 for the
poorest districts in 12 States for six months. This includes an allocation
of 119901 tons for Odisha including Gajapati district.