CENTRAL ISSUE PRICE OF WHEAT AND RICE UNDER THE PDS RAISED

    The Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Wheat and Rice have been raised on several occasions during the past four years without a simultaneous increase in CIP of these items. Considering the hike in MSP and the financial implications on the food subsidy bill, the Government have decided to raise the CIP’s of Wheat and Rice with effect from 29.1.1999 as follows:-
(Rs. per qunital)
Commodity                                                  BPL                                          APL

Wheat                                                         325                                              650

Rice
(i) Common                                                 452                                                -
(ii) Grade A                                                 452                                              905
(iii) Common Rice to APL families applicable to J&K, Himachal Pradesh and hilly areas of N.E. States (including Sikkim and U.P) is Revised to Rs. 700/- per quintal.

    The food subsidy provided in the Union Budget has three components:-

    a) Consumer subsidy which represents the difference between the economic cost of rice and wheat and the CIP for the targetted population.

    b) The carrying cost of buffer stock.

    c) Settlement of accounts of the FCI based on the audited statements of expenditure.

    The consumer subsidy is a major component of the Food Subsidy. If there is no increase in Central Issue Prices the consumer subsidy component of food subsidy would have been Rs. 8,500 crore. As a result of the revision of Issue Prices, it comes down to Rs. 5,600 crore, a saving of Rs. 2,900 crore.

    The Central Issue Prices (CIP) of Wheat and Rice distributed under Public Distribution Sytem (ex-FCI godown) were last revised in February, 1994 at Rs. 402/- for Wheat, and Rs. 537/- Rs. 617/- and Rs. 648/- for Common, Fine and Superfine Rice respectively. However, with the inception of the Targetted Public Distribution System on 1stJune, 1997, the CIP’s were readjusted as follows:-

( Rs. Per quintal)
Commodity                       Below Poverty Line               Above Poverty Line
                                            (BPL)                                         (APL)

Wheat                                     250                                         450
Rice
(i) Common                             350                                             -
(ii) Fine                                    350                                         650
(iii) Superfine                            350                                        750

    With the merging of the two varieties of Fine and Superfine Rice into Grade A, the CIP of Grade A Rice to APL families was readjusted to Rs. 700/- per quintal.

    Common Rice was to be issued to BPL families only, and not to APL familes. However, on the request of some State Governments, a special dispensation was given to the hilly areas of North-Eastern States including Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, where Common Rice was issued at Rs. 550/- per quintal.
 
 

INDIAN ROADS CONGRESS SESSION AT HYDERABAD FROM SUNDAY

    The 59th Annual Session of the Indian Roads Congress will be held at Hyderabad from 31st January to 3rd February, 1999. The session will be inaugurated by the Governor of Andhra Pradesh. The Minister of Law, Justice & Company Affairs and Surface Transport will be the Chief Guest. The Keynote address will be delivered by Major C.R. Ramesh, President of the Indian Roads Congress and Secretary to the Government of Karnataka (Public Works Department).

    The programme includes discussion on Technical Papers of topical interest on Roads, Bridges and Transportation, discussion on reports of the work done in the road research laboratories of the country during 1997-98, Panel Discussion on "Experience of Supervision Consultancy", Technical Presentation as well as Presentation on important Research Topics. Besides the above, there will be meetings of the Council, General Body, Highway Research Board and various Technical Committees of the Indian Roads Congress. A Technical Exhibition on this occasion will also be arranged.

    The Chief Engineers of all State P.W.Ds, Central Public Works Department, Director General Border Roads, Engineer-in-Chief, Army Headquarters, Director, Central Road Research Institute and the Ministry of Surface Transport (Roads Wing), New Delhi will be holding a meeting on the 3rd February, 1999 which will be chaired by the Director General (Road Development), Ministry of Surface Transport. Several issues relating to Road Development in the country are expected to be discussed in this meeting.
 
 

Interim Report on Teaching of Fundamental duties presented to HRD Minister

    A Committee setup by Government of India ‘to operationalise the suggestions to teach Fundamental Duties to the citizen of the country’ today submitted it’s Interim Report. The Chairman of the Committee retired Justice J.S. Verma presented a copy of the interim report to the Human Resources Development Minister Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi. On receiving the report the HRD Minister said that the Interim Report will be processed expeditiously.

    While presenting the Interim Report, retired Justice J.S. Verma said that this Interim Report is being given to enable the Government to initiate prompt action in the light of the recommendations. The requisite direction has been given and guidelines framed by the Supreme Court under Article 32 with the aid of Articles 141, 142 and 144, reading the fundamental duties in Article 51A within the meaning of the fundamental rights to Equality (Article 14 to 16) and Freedoms (Article 19) and ‘Right to Life (Article 21) in the Constitution of India. He said that the Committee is of the view that any further delay in implementation to this extent would be detrimental to public interest. This can be avoided by an Interim Report of the Committee identifying such areas and making corresponding recommendations at this stage to enable the concerned authorities to take the necessary steps forthwith.

    The Committee was constituted on 21 July 1998. Other members of the Committee are Dr. L.M. Singhvi, Dr. J.S. Rajput, Dr. Karan Singh, Dr. Subhash C. Kashyap and Dr. A.K. Sharma, the Director NCERT is the Member-Secretary.