Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
The Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution is the head of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and one of the cabinet ministers of the Government of India. The minister Ram Vilas Paswan was sworn into Narendra Modi's cabinet on 26 May 2014. He is not that much of a popular man but he is noted for his work.
Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) is one of the two Departments under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution. It was constituted as a separate Department in June 1997 as it was considered necessary to have a separate Department to give a fillip to the nascent consumer in the country The Department has been entrusted with the following work · Internal Trade · The Essential Commodities Act, 1955 (10 of 1955) (Supply, Prices and Distribution of Essential Commodities not dealt with specifically by any other Department). · Prevention of Black Marketing and Maintenance of Supply of Essential Commodities Act, 1980(7 of 1980). · Regulation of Packaged Commodities. · Training in Legal Metrology. · The Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1952. · Standards of Weights and Measures - The Legal Metrology Act, 2009. · Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 1986. · Laying down specifications, standards and codes and ensuring quality control of bio-fuels for end uses. · Consumer Cooperatives · Consumer Protection Act, 1986. · Monitoring of prices and availability of essential commodities. · National Test House.
The primary Policy objective of the Department of Food & Public Distribution is to ensure food security for the country through timely and efficient procurement and distribution of foodgrains. This involves procurement of various foodgrains, building up and maintenance of food stocks, their storage, movement and delivery to the distributing agencies and monitoring of production, stock and price levels of foodgrains. The focus is on incentivizing farmers through fair value of their produce by way of Minimum Support Price mechanism, distribution of foodgrains to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families and covering poor households at the risk of hunger under Antyodaya Anna Yojna (AAY), establishing grain banks in food scarce areas and involvement of Panchayati Raj Institutions in Public Distribution System (PDS).
The Department is also responsible for formulation of policies concerning the sugar sector such as fixing of Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane payable by Sugar factories, development and regulation of sugar industry (including training in sugar technology), fixation of levy price of sugar and its supply for PDS and regulation of supply of free sale sugar. The Department also formulates policies on export and import of foodgrains, sugar and edible oils.