Ministry of Consumer Affairs, 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.

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.

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.[1]

The department is responsible for:[1]

• 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.