Price of rice skyrockets in Manipur
Source: Hueiyen News Service / Maisnam Karnajit

Imphal, June 01 2013 : Even if the annual report submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture by State Agriculture Department indicates substantially good harvest, the price of rice has skyrocketed unprecedentedly in the State.

The price of Grade-A (Superfine) rice at wholesale shops in Khwairamband Keithel has reached Rs.20 per kilogram.

The 50-kg bag is sold between Rs.950 and Rs.1000.Grade-A is the cheapest of all varieties of rice available in the market.

Other varieties of rice are sold at over Rs.25 per kilogram.

MLA of Chingai Assembly Constituency Preshow Shimray told Hueiyen Lanpao that the price of superfine rice has reached Rs.23 per kilogram in Ukhrul district and it is even sold at Rs.27 per kilogram in the peripheries.

People are finding hard to procure the rice.

The price of rice has touched Rs.30 per kiolgram at Tousem sub-division in Tamenglong district where there is recurrence of famine every year.

Commenting on the reasons for scarcity of rice in the State, a trader at Dharmasala said that even if the production of rice increased in the State, there would be problems of scarcity until the CAF&PD releases rice to the general public.

The State's rice production is just enough to feed four persons out of every 10 people, while the remaining six persons rely heavily on rice procured from other states.

The traders have stopped transporting rice to the State as the price of rice is even higher in Dimapur.

As a result of this, price of rice has soared up in the market.

An official of CAF&PD told that the present quota of rice has been fixed as per the projected population of the State made by Planning Commission in 2000.The deficiency is a result of the population that has been increased in the last 13 years.

The State government has repeatedly urged the Centre to augment the rice quota.

The total number beneficiary households of APL, BPL and AAY in 2000 was 4,06,593 but it has reached 5,10,448 by 2011 .

The number of APL households is 2,40,593, number of BPL households is 1,02,400 and AAY households is 63600 .

According to the guidelines of Government of India, APL household is entitled to 35 kg rice per month while BPL and AAY households are entitled to 33.96 kg and 35 kg per month at subsidized rates.

The State's quota is only 2182 metric tonnes and so it is unable to provide full quantity of rice to AAY households, while the APL and BPL get their share as per the norms.

Significantly, the Centre has provided 3602 metric tonnes of rice and 1651 metric tonnes of wheat to supplement the additional beneficiaries of APL and BPL.

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