The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution is a

government ministry Ministry or department (also less commonly used secretariat, office, or directorate) are designations used by first-level Executive (government), executive bodies in the Machinery of government, machinery of governments that manage a specific se ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The ministry is headed by a Cabinet rank minister.

Departments

The ministry is divided into two departments, the Department of Food and Public Distribution and the Department of Consumer Affairs.

Department of Food and Public Distribution

The objectives of the department are to ensure: *remunerative rates for the farmers. *supply of food grains at reasonable prices through the public distribution system.

Public Distribution System

The Indian Public Distribution System (PDS) is a national

food security Food security is the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, healthy Human food, food. The availability of food for people of any class, gender, ethnicity, or religion is another element of food protection. Simila ...

system that distributes subsidised food to India's poor. Major commodities include

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

and

kerosene Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustibility, combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in Aviation fuel, aviation as well as households. Its name derives from the Greek (''kērós'') meaning " ...

. Surpluses of food from increased

crop yield In agriculture, the yield is a measurement of the amount of a crop grown, or product such as wool, meat or milk produced, per unit area of land. The seed ratio is another way of calculating yields. Innovations, such as the use of fertilizer, the ...

s (as a result of the

Green Revolution The Green Revolution, or the Third Agricultural Revolution, was a period during which technology transfer initiatives resulted in a significant increase in crop yields. These changes in agriculture initially emerged in Developed country , devel ...

and good

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

seasons) are managed by the

Food Corporation of India The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is a public sector company. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, formed by the enactment of Food Corporation Act, 1964 by the Parliament of India. Its t ...

, established by the Food Corporation Act 1964. The system implements national policy for farm

price support In economics, a price support may be either a subsidy, a production quota, or a price floor, each with the intended effect of keeping the market price of a good higher than the competitive equilibrium level. In the case of a price control, a pri ...

, operations, procurement, storage, preservation, inter-state movement and distribution. PDS has a network of about 478,000 Fair Price Shops (FPS), perhaps the largest distribution network of its type in the world, operated by the Union Government and state governments.

Department of Consumer Affairs

The department administers the policies for Consumer Cooperatives, price monitoring, essential commodity availability, consumer movement and control of statutory bodies such as the

Bureau of Indian Standards The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the National Standards Body of India under Department of Consumer affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Government ...

(BIS) and Weights and Measures. The department is responsible for: *National Test House *Standards of Weights and Measures *The

*Consumer Cooperatives *Forward Markets Commission, Mumbai *Monitoring of Prices and Availability of essential commodities *The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 *Consumer Welfare Fund * Internal Trade * Inter-State Trade: The Spirituous Preparations (Inter-State Trade and Commerce) Control Act, 1955 (39 of 1955). * Control of Futures Trading: the Forward Contracts (Regulations) Act, 1952 (74 of 1952). The department regulates the availability and prescribes measures to see that the system works towards the food security of vulnerable people. This intent is to increase dignity, accountability, visibility, positive orientation and changed mind set.

Institutes

# National Sugar Institute,

Kanpur Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...

Related Agencies

# Central Consumer Protection Authority

Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) under the Ministry

1. National Cooperative Consumer's Federation of India Ltd.

Ministers

Food & Agriculture (1947–71)

Food & Civil Supplies (1983–91)

Food (1991–96)

Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution (1991–96)

Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution (1996–present)

References

Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
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Consumer A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or use purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...

Welfare in India Consumer protection in India