UP Govt targets distribution of fortified rice to 15.05 crore beneficiaries by March next year

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], June 21 : In an initiative to facilitate the distribution of 'fortified rice' to 15.05 crore beneficiaries of the Rice Fortification Scheme, covered under the National Food Security Act across Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath-led government has started allotting paddy to only those rice mills in the state which have blenders installed, an official statement said on Wednesday.

In the second phase of the Central Government's Rice Fortification Scheme, 64,365 ration shops were selected in 60 districts of the state for the distribution of fortified rice to 12 crore beneficiaries covered under NFSA with an annual allocation of 46.10 lakh metric tonnes.

Significantly, rice is the staple food of 65 per cent of India's population and India is also the largest producer and consumer of rice, contributing 22 per cent of the world's total production of rice.

Fortified rice is richer than normal rice in terms of nutrition because milling and processing typically remove the fat and micronutrient from normal rice, whereas fortified rice retains all of these properties. Vitamin B-1, Vitamin B-6, Vitamin E, Niacin, Iron, Zinc, Folic Acid, Vitamin B-12 and Vitamin A are preserved and enriched with micronutrients through the blending process in fortified rice and it can help solve many health-related problems in people, including anaemia, in the country. The process of its distribution is being promoted in the country through the Rice Fortification Scheme of NFSA.

The state government is gearing up to provide the benefit of fortified rice to 15.05 NFSL beneficiaries of the state. According to government statistics, 12 crore people have already started getting benefits of the Rice Fortification Scheme through the annual allocation of 46.10 lakh metric tons to 64,365 ration shops in 60 districts under NFSA.

The Uttar Pradesh government has also taken steps to achieve the target of providing fortified rice to 3.61 crore ration card holders through 79,365 ration shops by March 2024. The fortified rice will be produced in 1718 rice mills.

A total of 1917 lakh beneficiaries, including 1823 Anganwadis and 865 ration shops got benefited through 102 rice mills in Chandauli and Sewapuri blocks of Varanasi in the year 2021 where it was run as a pilot project. Taking this success forward, the benefit of fortified rice was extended to 3.96 crore people in the first phase in the state.

It is worth mentioning here that according to the 2011 census, 19.98 crore people reside in 75 districts of 18 divisions of Uttar Pradesh.

Under the guidance of the Central Government, the work of providing fortified rice to people in the state has been divided into three phases. In the first phase, held till March 2022, the ICDS and PM Nutrition Scheme were effectively implemented across the country. Similarly, in the second phase, steps are being taken for the effective implementation of the scheme in high-burden districts.

In the third phase, by March 2024, priority is being given to delivering the benefits of fortified rice to the people smoothly in all the districts. The main focus of the state government is also on fulfilling these goals. The allotment process has started in 73 districts in the state.

At present, the monthly requirement of fortified rice in the state is 4.95 lakh metric tonnes, while a total of 24.56 lakh metric tonnes of fortified rice is available in the state.

As per the Centre's data, the procurement of paddy by the Government of India during the Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2022-23 in the country is going on smoothly.

More than 830 lakh metric tonnes of paddy has been procured for the Central Pool till 19 June 2023 under the Minimum Support Price (MSP) operation.

More than 1.22 crore farmers have benefited so far from the ongoing paddy procurement operations of KMS 2022-23 and Rs 200 crore has been withdrawn on MSP.

Rs 1,71,000 crore has been directly transferred to the accounts of farmers. Production and marketing of fortified rice have been given priority on a large scale.