Following severe criticism, the Madhya Pradesh government has revised its policy on paddy cultivation and procurement and testing of paddy at milling centres, just four days after putting it in place. 

On the face of it, the move to test paddy at milling centres followed a September inquiry of grain stocks in the state, which showed that 16 per cent of rice stored for distribution was not fit for human consumption. 

And so, in a December 10 order, the state government decided to not buy paddy at minimum support price (MSP) or distribute it under the public distribution system (PDS) if it failed rice millers’ testing. Gaon Connection had reported about the issue. 

During the COVID-19 lockdown, there were several reports of distribution of poor-quality rice under the public distribution system from several districts of Madhya Pradesh. The Centre sought a response from the state government. The state government inquiry in September this year said that out of the 2.747 lakh metric tonnes of rice stored across 52 districts, only 1.806 lakh metric tonnes was found usable. 

Rice millers have for long been complaining about receiving broken rice, and requested the chief minister to issue an order for testing paddy at rice mills. The contentious notification, now withdrawn, also said that farmers would be informed about the varieties of paddy that failed quality tests and they would have to sow other varieties, for which grains would be provided. If they insisted on sowing the varieties they were already raising, the government would not buy paddy from them the following year. 

The revenue and agriculture departments of the districts were jointly entrusted the responsibility of sensitising farmers to this new rule.

The government believed this would be a definitive step in providing good quality rice to people under PDS. But, the responsibility of quality testing was given to millers, and this rankled many, who insisted that it was being done to benefit traders. 

With the December 14 revision, farmers can go back to sowing all varieties of paddy, without fear of non-procurement. The department of food, civil supplies and consumer protection issued an order that “If any variety of paddy fails to meet the criteria in test milling, there will not be any ban or prohibition on growing such paddy, but the farmers will be advised to sow good quality of paddy.”

What prompted the new order? Gaon Connection tried reaching Umakant Pandey, the general manager of Madhya Pradesh State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited and deputy secretary with the department of civil supplies and consumer protection, but did not get any response from him. Gaon Connection also tried reaching Abhijit Agarwal, the managing director of Madhya Pradesh State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited, to no avail. 

In Madhya Pradesh, government procurement of paddy began on November 25. After leaving Punjab behind in wheat production, the state government has set a target of procuring a record 40,00,000 tonnes of paddy this year. Kharif crops are sown in 14.5 million hectares in the state, and the acreage of paddy is the highest after soybean.

Read the story in Hindi here.