Two weather events that affected India’s wheat surpluses, took it off the export market
Baisakhi, in mid-April every year, witnesses peak arrival of wheat and its procurement in markets of Punjab and Haryana. This year, only 31.5 lakh tonnes of wheat was procured by 14 April 2023. So it is quite an achievement of the state agencies of Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh that all India procurement has reached 261 lakh tonnes by 18 May, 2023. Yet the government may have to allow zero duty import of wheat.
The quantity procured so far should be enough to meet the requirement of wheat for Public Distribution System under National Food Security Act 2013 (NFSA), now renamed as Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKAY). But it is much less than the estimate of procurement, which was 341.5 lakh tonnes.
Lower procurement forecloses any opportunity before the government to make any additional allocations in the run up to General elections in April-May 2024. Incidentally, the additional allocation of 5 kg per person of food grains per month, given free of cost, was offered as one of the key reasons of victory for the BJP in the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh in March 2022.
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