Under the Central Government's policy of promoting Shree Anna, i.e., coarse grains, the Rajasthan Government is now planning to distribute Millet (Bajra) instead of Wheat under the Public Distribution System (PDS) during the three months of winters November, December, and January.“ We are planning to procure about ten lakh metric tons of Millet from the farmers to distribute to the beneficiaries of the state covered under the Food Security Act during three months of winters.
Around 4.40 crore beneficiaries would get Five kg of Bajra free every month during three months of winters,' said Food and Civil Supplies Minister Sumit Godara adding that Rajasthan will be the first state to take such an initiative. He said that Millet is the major crop of Rajasthan and is also beneficial from health perspective.
Preliminary discussions have been held in this regard with Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma. Hopefully, the matter will move forward and Millet producing farmers will get the benefit of government support price. With around 40 percent of total production of Millet in the country, Rajasthan is the biggest producer of this crop, but its procurement at government support price has always been a big political issue in the state.
The previous Congress government in the state did not procure this crop despite agitations of farmers as there was no planning to use this. The farmers of the state had to move to Haryana to sell their crop to get the government support price.
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Experts believe that with the state government's decision to distribute Millet under PDS, this issue of procurement on government support price will get over and at the same time it will give political mileage to the BJP as the major producers of this crop are the districts like Jaipur, Barmer, Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Sikar, Ganganagar, Jhunjhunu, Alwar, and Jalore.
These are the districts where the BJP got major setback in both assembly and parliament elections because of farmers' annoyance. Besides this, the Rajasthan government has included Shree Anna in its Annapurna Rasoi Yojna in which food is being provided to the needy for just Rs 8 per plate.
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