Worried over the increase in rice prices, the Centre has asked traders/wholesalers, retailers, big chain retailers and processors/millers to declare their stock position of rice and paddy every Friday.

Union Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said the decision is to manage the overall food inflation and to prevent unscrupulous speculation.

Traders and millers will have to declare the stocks of paddy and almost all categories of rice, such as broken rice, non-basmati white rice, parboiled rice and basmati rice, on the Food Ministry’s designated portal, Mr. Chopra said.

Further, to check inflationary trends, the Centre has decided to start retail sale of ‘Bharat Rice’ to general consumers. “In the first phase, 5 lakh tonnes of rice have been allocated for retail sale under the ‘Bharat Rice’ brand through three agencies, the NAFED, NCCF and the Kendriya Bhandar. The retail price for sale of Bharat Rice to general consumers will be ₹29 per kilogram. Rice will be sold in five kg and 10 kg bags,” he said.

He said the retail prices had increased by 14.51% over the past year. “In an effort to curb the prices of rice, various steps have already been taken by the government,” he said. Sufficient stock of good quality rice is available with the FCI, which is being offered to traders/wholesalers under the open market sales scheme at a reserve price of ₹29/Kg.

He said the government’s policy of curbs on certain varieties of rice will continue. He said such measures had curbed the pace of increasing trend of rice prices in domestic market. “The first priority of the government as of now is to ensure that rice prices are brought down,” he said.