Food price stability: Is PDS working?

With the scare of rising food prices and the volatility in food output being seen all around the globe, there is a renewed focus on the sustainability and efficacy of India’s biggest intervention in the food market. The Public Distribution System (PDS) seeks to ensure availability of essential commodities like wheat, rice, sugar, edible oils and kerosene to the consumers, through a network of outlets or Fair Price Shops (FPS). There is a network of about half a million PDS retail outlets in the country. PDS is operated under the joint responsibility of the Central and State Governments. 70% of the poor use the PDS in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Between 50 to 60% of the poor use the PDS in Assam, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Orissa. Participation rates of the poor vary between 6 to 22% in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Indeed, the majority of the poorest 20 per cent of households in the northern and eastern Indian states does not purchase any foodgrains from the PDS. In aggregate, only about 42% of subsidized grains issued by the Central Pool reach the target group, according to a Planning Commission study released in March 2008.

This study shows that though the offtake per household has shown improvement under Targeted Public Distribution System, only about 57% of the BPL households are covered by it. The amount of subsidies during 2007-08 for food, fertilizers and petroleum was Rs 64,929 crore. The food subsidies are largely designed to be targeted to people below the poverty line and the other two subsidies, fertilizer and petroleum, particularly LPG, are available to all users and consumers. In principle, food market interventions are supposed to enhance the efficiency of food markets as well as improve the equity of food market outcomes. The efficiency effect arises from price stabilization. The reduction in risk is beneficial to producers as well. Even with stabilization, the market outcome involves unacceptably low food consumption for the poor. The equity objective of food market intervention is to augment the food consumption of such target groups by offering subsidies. Both these goals could be achieved by procurement, storage and distribution.

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Industrially Speaking from thomex.com

Thomex.com

The office premises of Groz Engineering Tools on the National Highway - 8, just before you hit Manesar (Gurgaon), stands as prominently as the Company itself, among the plethora of industrial units lining the road. The moment you step into the precincts, you realise the aesthetic sense of its creator. Made in pristine white, the multi-storeyed building, from inside, has carved wooden panels artistically designed and executed.

The creator of this magnificent edifice is none other than Anil Bammi, Managing Director, Groz Engineering Tools. A seasoned businessman, Anil worked for almost nine years in tool manufacturing industry before starting his dream project which began with a nondescript Sheet Metal Stamping in 1976.

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GE advances biotech production

GE Healthcare has installed a new automation system at its global headquarters in Uppsala, Sweden. The system – provided by Swiss firm ABB – is the third 800xA extended automation solution that has been installed at the Uppsala site, making it the world's most advanced facility for the production of protein separation media.

According to ABB, the control system "extends the scope of traditional control systems to include all automation functions in a single operations and engineering environment".

"ABB control systems have been our preferred choice of automation systems for a long time at the [Uppsala] site," said a GE spokesperson in-PharmaTechnologist.com

The system itself promises to deliver improvements in productivity and profitability—

• Providing even more useful features compared with existing systems
• Allow us to optimise the use of the installed equipment set-ups
• The regulatory-compliant system will control and monitor 4,000 input/output signals from tanks, reactors, valves, stirrers and other process equipment

One feature of the system which is available as an extension of the 800xA solution is 'Real-Time Production Intelligence' (Real-TPI), which allows plant manager to assess the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) of production equipment and processes.

There are number of manufacturers and distributors in India for process equipments and other automation systems like Siemense, Rockwell Automation, and ABB etc. To know about the manufacturers visit tomex.com - a Product Information Exchange, and for industry releases "Product News". thomex.com has a unique feature "One Click", by which you can search the product manufacturers details with specific Keywords like Abrasives, Electric Motors, Gears, Pollution Control, and many more.