Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

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Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
Emblem of India
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South Block building, housing the Cabinet Secretariat
Agency overview
Formed2 September 1946
JurisdictionRepublic of India
HeadquartersSansad Bhavan, New Delhi
Ministers responsible

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution is a government ministry of India. The Ministry is headed by a Cabinet rank minister.

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.[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.


Ministers (Food)

Name Term of office Party Prime Minister
Tarun Gogoi
(MoS, Independent Charge) 		21 June 1991 18 January 1993 Indian National Congress P. V. Narasimha Rao
Kalpnath Rai
(MoS, Independent Charge) 		18 January 1993 21 December 1994
P. V. Narasimha Rao 23 December 1994 10 February 1995
Ajit Singh 10 February 1995 16 May 1996
Atal Bihari Vajpayee 16 May 1996 01 June 1996 Bharatiya Janata Party Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Ministers (Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution)

Name Term of office Party Prime Minister
Pranab Mukherjee[2]
(Civil Supplies) 		16 January 1980 15 January 1982 Indian National Congress Indira Gandhi
Bhagwat Jha Azad
(Food and Civil Supplies)
(MoS, Independent Charge) 		14 February 1983 31 December 1984 Indira Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi
Rao Birendra Singh 31 December 1984 25 September 1985 Rajiv Gandhi
K. P. Singh Deo
(MoS, Independent Charge) 		25 September 1985 27 January 1986
P Shiv Shankar 27 January 1986 12 May 1986
H. K. L. Bhagat 12 May 1986 14 February 1988
Sukh Ram
(MoS, Independent Charge) 		14 February 1988 02 December 1989
Nathuram Mirdha
(Food and Civil Supplies) 		08 December 1989 10 November 1990 Janata Party
(National Front) 		V. P. Singh
Rao Birendra Singh 21 November 1990 21 June 1991 Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) Chandra Shekhar
P. V. Narasimha Rao
(Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs, and Public Distribution) 		21 June 1991 18 January 1993 Indian National Congress P. V. Narasimha Rao
A. K. Antony 18 January 1993 08 February 1995
Buta Singh 08 February 1995 20 February 1996
P. V. Narasimha Rao 20 February 1996 16 May 1996
Atal Bihari Vajpayee 16 May 1996 01 June 1996 Bharatiya Janata Party Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Devendra Prasad Yadav
(Food, Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs, and Public Distribution) 		01 June 1996 21 April 1997 Janata Dal
(United Front) 		H. D. Deve Gowda
I. K. Gujral 21 April 1997 23 April 1997 I. K. Gujral
Chaturanan Mishra 01 June 1996 09 June 1997 Communist Party of India
(United Front)
Raghuvansh Prasad Singh
(Food and Consumer Affairs)
(MoS, Independent Charge) 		09 June 1997 10 January 1998 Janata Dal
(United Front)
Balwant Singh Ramoowalia[3]
(Food and Civil Supplies)
(MoS, Independent Charge) 		10 January 1998 18 March 1998
Surjit Singh Barnala
(Food and Consumer Affairs) 		18 March 1998 13 October 1999 Shiromani Akali Dal
(National Democratic Alliance) 		Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Shanta Kumar
(Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution till 17 July 2000)
(Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution till 01 July 2002) 		13 October 1999 01 July 2002 Bharatiya Janata Party
(National Democratic Alliance)
Sharad Yadav [4] 01 July 2002 22 May 2004 Janata Dal
(National Democratic Alliance)
Sharad Pawar 23 May 2004 19 January 2011 Nationalist Congress Party
(United Progressive Alliance) 		Manmohan Singh
K.V. Thomas
(MoS, Independent Charge) 		19 January 2011 26 May 2014 Indian National Congress
(United Progressive Alliance)
Ram Vilas Paswan 26 May 2014 22 May 2017 Lok Janshakti Party
(National Democratic Alliance) 		Narendra Modi
Radha Mohan Singh 22 May 2017 17 June 2017 Bharatiya Janata Party
(National Democratic Alliance)
Ram Vilas Paswan 17 June 2017 08 October 2020 Lok Janshakti Party
(National Democratic Alliance)
Piyush Goyal 08 October 2020 Incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party
(National Democratic Alliance)

List of Ministers of State

Ministers of State of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Affairs
Minister of state Portrait Political party Term Days
Raosaheb Danve Error creating thumbnail: File missing Bharatiya Janata Party 26 May 2014 5 March 2015 283 days
C. R. Chaudhary Error creating thumbnail: File missing 5 July 2016 30 May 2019 1059 days
Raosaheb Danve Error creating thumbnail: File missing 30 May 2019 7 July 2021 769 days
Ashwini Kumar Choubey Error creating thumbnail: File missing 7 July 2021 Incumbent 1870 days
Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti 7 July 2021 Incumbent 1870 days

See also

References

Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Dept of Consumer Affairs - Overview". Dept of Consumer Affairs. Archived from the original on 12 December 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
  2. ↑ "Council of Ministers" (PDF).
  3. ↑ "Council of Ministers" (PDF).
  4. ↑ "Council of Ministers" (PDF).
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