Profile

The Department of Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs is one of the oldest established Departments previously known as Food & Supplies Department and later on as Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution Department.

The Department is entrusted with the responsibility of providing Food Security to the people in general and to the vulnerable sections of the society in particular.

The Department provides food grains, Rice, Atta, Sugar and kerosene oil to consumers through a network of sale depots and Fair Price Shops. Besides enforcing & protecting the Consumer Rights. The Department is entrusted with the following assignments:

1. Ensure Public Distribution which includes issuance of new/duplicate ration cards of different categories, surrender/deletion of ration cards, Inclusion/omission of individuals etc.

2. Granting of Fair Price Shop licenses under PDS/Kerosene Oil Depots.

3. Arrangement/Management/Distribution of food grains to Targeted Public Distribution System families.

4. Regulation of prices of essential commodities/market checking etc.

5. Organizing Consumer Awareness Programmes.

6. Redressal of Consumer Grievances and Consumer Rights.

Public Distribution System

The Public Distribution System envisages the system of management of food economy and distribution of foodgrains at affordable prices.

The PDS is although supplement in nature has almost all along helped to ensure availability of un-interrupted supplies of foodgrains in equitable basis at affordable prices not only giving relief to the consumer masses but also exercising stabilizing influence upon the prices of these goods. The PDS is operated under the joint responsibility of Central and State Government. The Central Government through FCI has the responsibility for procurement, Storage, Transportation and bulk allocation of foodgrains, the State Government has the responsibility of making allocation within the State, identification of families, issue of ration cards and distribution of foodgrains to the ration families.

The PDS has evolved country wide in 1960 to meet the critical food shortages in urban areas, later on extending to tribal blocks and areas of high incidence of poverty in 1970's and 1980's till June 1992 When a general entitlement scheme for all consumers without any specific target was launched in the shape of Revamped Public Distribution System (RPDS).
In June 1997 the Government of India launched the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) with the focus on poor replacing the RPDS. The allocation to the foodgrains to the Sate/UT's was made by the Government of India on the basis of average consumption in the past i.e. average Annual off - take of foodgrains for the PDS during the past 10 years at the time of introduction of TPDS.

The State Government from 1st February, 2016 has implemented National Food Security Act, 2013. Under this Act, the eligible beneficiaries under priority households (PHH) are entitled to receive 5kgs of food grains per soul per month at subsidized prices of Rs.3/2/1 per kg for rice/wheat/coarse grains. However, the existing beneficiaries under Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY), which constitute the poorest of the poor, will continue to receive 35 kg of food grains per household per month.

Under Non-Priority Households (NPHH) category the beneficiaries are provided foodgrains at a scale of 05 kg/soul per month at a subsidized price of Rs.12 per Kg for wheat, Rs.13 per Kg for Atta & Rs.15 per Kg for Rice.

At present the department is providing highly subsidized foodgrains to 32.08 lakh souls under Priority Households (PHH) at a rate of Rs 3 and Rs 2 for Rice and Wheat respectively. The department is also providing subsidized foodgrains to around 19.46 lakh souls under Non-Priority Households (NPHH) @ Rs. 12, Rs. 13 & Rs. 15 for Wheat, Atta and Rice Respectively.

The District -wise Population of Jammu Division as per census of 2011 is as under:-

S. No.	DISTRICT NAME	Population as per Census 2011
1	Doda	409936
2	Jammu	1529958
3	Kathua	616435
4	Kishtwar	230696
55	Punch	476835
6	Rajouri	642415
7	Ramban	283713
8	Reasi	314667
9	Samba	318898
10	Udhampur	554985
		5378538

The Category wise Coverage under NFSA in Respect of Jammu Division is as under:-

S. No.	DISTRICT NAME	PHH	NPHH	Total	Exclusion
1	Doda	263447	139631	403078	6498
2	Jammu	793888	603588	1397476	128930
3	Kathua	376240	223190	599430	16281
4	Kishtwar	157903	70053	227956	3081
5	Punch	297182	171953	469135	7685
6	Rajouri	413633	219758	633391	9024
7	Ramban	178627	101961	280588	2725
8	Reasi	198128	111319	309447	5267
9	Samba	194177	114729	308906	9705
10	Udhampur	335435	200360	535795	19562
		3208660	1956542	5165202	208758

The sale rate and the scale of food grains under NFSA of different categories is as under:-

Category-wise, Scale & Rates of food grains under (NFSA)
S. No.	Category	Monthly Scale	Rate per Kg (in Rs)
S. No.	Category	Monthly Scale	Wheat	Atta	Rice
1.	PHH(AAY)	35 kg/family	2	3	3
2.	PHH(BPL)	5 Kg/ soul	2	3	3
3.	PHH	5 Kg/ Soul	2	3	3
4.	NPHH	5 Kg/ Soul	12	13	15

The sale rate and the scale of food grains under "J&K Food Entitlement Scheme" of different categories is as under:-

Category wise rate per Kg under "J&K Food Entitlement Scheme"
S.No	Category	Rate Under "J&K Food Entitlement Scheme" per Kg (in Rs)
S.No	Category	Wheat	Atta	Rice.
1.	PHH(AAY)	12	13	15
2	PHH(BPL)	12	13	15
3	PHH	12	13	15
4	NPHH	12	13	15

Scale and Rate of Sugar to all the eligible Souls under NFSA

Scale

500 Grams per soul per month to PHH Rationees from July 2017 onward.

As per Govt. Order No:-173-FCS&CA of 2017 Dated:-09-06-2017

Rate

Rs. 25.00 per kg

Safeguarding Consumer Interests

The Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs is continuously taking effective steps to protect the interest of consumers in the State by strictly enforcing the State/central Laws, and organizing consumer awareness programmes. The Department has established consumer courts in the State. The State Consumer Disputes Redressal commission at the State level and two Divisional consumer fora in Jammu and Kashmir Divisions. The State Commission is headed by its President who is a retired judge of the Hon�ble High Court. The Divisional Fora are headed by in-service District and Session Judges. All three Fora are fully constituted. The Government has also approved for setting up of 8 District Foras, 4 each in Jammu and Kashmir Divisions. The requisite staff for the District fora has also been sanctioned and posts referred to the SSRB for making recruitment. Steps are being taken to make the District fora functional as early as possible.

Regulation of Supplies, LPG and Other Petroleum Products

Oil Marketing Companies (viz: IOCL, BPCL & HPCL) are providing services to the public by supplying Kerosene Oil and LPG through network of stockists, distributors and retailers. The Administrative Department is allocating about 1700 KL SKO on monthly during summer and about 2500 KL SKO on monthly during winter in Jammu Division. The FCS&CA and Legal Metrology Departments are regulatory authorities and frequently making inspections both at the level of LPG filling station, stockists and retailers of SKO and LPG outlets.

Price/Market Control

The prices of specified essential commodities are fixed by the Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs in the cities of Jammu and Srinagar in consultation with the representatives of concerned trade, representatives of concerned Govt. Department and the consumer protection organizations while deliberating upon the issue factors like input costs, wholesale prices, distribution expenses and profit margin of the wholesaler/retailers are taken into account and only then the prices are fixed. To ensure adherence to the notified prices checking squads are in position.

In the districts this responsibility is discharged by the concerned Deputy Commissioner, who are the District Controllers.

Consumer Councils

The Act also provides for establishment of State and District Consumer Protection Councils. These Councils are duly constituted. The State Consumer Protection Council stands constituted under the chairmanship of Hon�ble Minister for FCS&CA.

The District Consumer Protection Councils (DCPCs) have been set up in each district under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner in accordance with the provision of consumer Protection Act with the objective to promote and protect the rights of consumers.