Anoop KP

Vinay V. Panicker

CT Sunil Kumar

Abstract

Food grains management has been an issue of prime importance in India due to its role in providing food security to the nation. Food Corporation of India (FCI) was setup to take the food security programme named Public Distribution System (PDS) to operational level. FCI was entrusted with the responsibility of meeting the multiple objectives of food policy laid out by the Government of India. The food policy aims at providing the much needed price support for the farmers while ensuring an affordable price for the consumers. FCI played a commendable role in taking the nation from a stage of acute food grain shortage to food grain surplus. With time, as the scenario changed, the challenges faced by FCI also changed and it is time to equip FCI to meet the new challenges. This paper discusses the operations of FCI, the new challenges faced by itand the recent initiatives taken up by FCI for modernization.

Keywords- FCI, PDS, Minimum Support Price