Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution is a government ministry of India. The Ministry is headed by a Cabinet rank minister. Ram Vilas Paswan held the office from 26 May 2014 until his death on 8 October 2020.[1]

Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

South Block building, housing the Cabinet Secretariat
Agency overview
Formed2 September 1946
JurisdictionRepublic of India
HeadquartersSansad Bhavan, New Delhi
Ministers responsible

Departments

The ministry is divided into two departments, the Department of Food and Public Distribution and the Department of Consumer Affairs.

Department of Food and Public Distribution

The objectives of the Department are to ensure:

  • remunerative rates for the farmers.
  • supply of food grains at reasonable prices through the public distribution system.

Public Distribution System

The Indian Public Distribution System (PDS) is a national food security system that distributes subsidised food to India's poor. Major commodities include wheat, rice, sugar and kerosene. Surpluses of food from increased crop yields (as a result of the Green Revolution and good monsoon seasons) are managed by the Food Corporation of India, established by the Food Corporation Act 1964. The system implements national policy for farm price support, operations, procurement, storage, preservation, inter-state movement and distribution. PDS has a network of about 478,000 Fair Price Shops (FPS), perhaps the largest distribution network of its type in the world, operated by the Union Government and state governments.

Department of Consumer Affairs

The Department administers the policies for Consumer Cooperatives, price monitoring, essential commodity availability, consumer movement and control of statutory bodies such as the Bureau of Indian Standards(BIS) and Weights and Measures.[2]

The department is responsible for:[2]

  • National Test House
  • Standards of Weights and Measures
  • The Bureau of Indian Standards
  • Consumer Cooperatives
  • Forward Markets Commission, Mumbai
  • Monitoring of Prices and Availability of essential commodities
  • The Consumer Protection Act, 2019
  • Consumer Welfare Fund
  • Internal Trade
  • Inter-State Trade: The Spirituous Preparations (Inter-State Trade and Commerce) Control Act, 1955 (39 of 1955).
  • Control of Futures Trading: the Forward Contracts (Regulations) Act, 1952 (74 of 1952).

The department regulates the availability and prescribes measures to see that the system works towards the food security of vulnerable people. This intent is to increase dignity, accountability, visibility, positive orientation and changed mind set.

Ministers (Food)

Ministers (Civil Supplies)
  • Pranab Mukherjee (16 January 1980 - 15 January 1982) (Civil Supplies)
  • Bhagwat Jha Azad (14 February 1983 - 31 December 1984) (Food and Civil Supplies) (MoS, Independent Charge)[4]
  • Rao Birendra Singh (31 December 1984 - 25 September 1985) (Food and Civil Supplies)
  • K. P. Singh Deo (25 September 1985 - 27 January 1986) (Food and Civil Supplies) (MoS, Independent Charge)
  • P. Shiv Shankar (27 January 1986 - 12 May 1986) (Food and Civil Supplies)
  • H. K. L. Bhagat (12 May 1986 - 14 February 1988) (Food and Civil Supplies)
  • Sukh Ram (14 February 1988 - 02 December 1989) (Food and Civil Supplies) (MoS, Independent Charge)
  • Nathuram Mirdha (08 December 1989 - 10 November 1990) (Food and Civil Supplies)
  • Rao Birendra Singh (21 November 1990 - 21 June 1991) (Food and Civil Supplies)
  • P. V. Narasimha Rao (21 June 1991 - 18 January 1993) (Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs, and Public Distribution)
  • A. K. Antony (18 January 1993 - 08 February 1995) (Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs, and Public Distribution)
  • Buta Singh (10 February 1995 - 20 February 1996) (Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs, and Public Distribution)
  • P. V. Narasimha Rao (20 February 1996 - 16 May 1996) (Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs, and Public Distribution)
  • Atal Behari Vajpayee (16 May 1996 - 01 June 1996) (Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs, and Public Distribution)
  • Devendra Prasad Yadav (01 June 1996 - 21 April 1997) (Food, Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs, and Public Distribution)
  • I. K. Gujral (21 April 1997 - 23 April 1997) (Food, Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs, and Public Distribution)
  • Chaturanan Mishra(24 April 1997 - 09 June 1997) (Food, Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs, and Public Distribution)
  • Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (09 June 1997 - 10 January 1998) (Food and Consumer Affairs) (MoS, Independent Charge)
  • Balwant Singh Ramoowalia (10 January 1998 - 19 March 1998) (Food and Civil Supplies)
  • Surjit Singh Barnala (19 March 1998 - 13 October 1999) (Food and Consumer Affairs)
  • Shanta Kumar (13 October 1999 - 17 July 2000) (Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution)
  • Shanta Kumar (17 July 2000 - 01 July 2002) (Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution)
  • Sharad Yadav (01 July 2002- 22 May 2004)
  • Sharad Pawar (23 May 2004 - 19 January 2011)
  • K. V. Thomas (19 January 2011 - 26 May 2014) (MoS, Independent Charge)
  • Ram Vilas Paswan (26 May 2014 - 22 May 2017)
  • Radha Mohan Singh (22 May 2017 - 17 June 2017)
  • Ram Vilas Paswan (17 June 2017 - 08 October 2020)
  • Piyush Goyal (08 October 2020- )

See also

References

Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 October 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2018.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Dept of Consumer Affairs - Overview". Dept of Consumer Affairs. Archived from the original on 12 December 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
  3. "Council of Ministers" (PDF).
  4. "Council of Ministers" (PDF).
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