Parliament Question: Steps to control rising food inflation

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 359 TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.02.2026 STEPS TO CONTROL RISING FOOD INFLATION 359. SHRI IMRAN PRATAPGARHI: Will the Minister of CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION be pleased to state: (a) the steps taken to control the rising food inflation affecting essential commodities across the country; (b) whether Government received reports of black-marketing or hoarding of essential items and the measures being taken to curb these practices; (c) the current status of implementation of the Public Distribution System (PDS) and how many cases of leakages or diversion of subsidized food grains have been detected during the last year; and (d) the corrective measures being planned to ensure that PDS reaches intended beneficiaries efficiently? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE, CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI B.L. VERMA) (a) : Department of Consumer Affairs monitors the daily prices of 40 essential food commodities submitted by 577 price monitoring centres across the country. As per the data, prices of food commodities are stable and under control. Food inflation measured by the year-on-year variation in Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI), as published by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, for December, 2025 is (-) 2.71%. Government keeps a close watch on the production and availability of essential commodities through regular reviews by the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC). The Committee reviews, on regular basis, the scenario and the indicative trends in prices of essential agri-horticultural commodities and suggests measures to enhance availability through increased domestic production and rationalisation in export-import policies. (b) : To monitor the stock of pulses, the Department of Consumer Affairs advised State Governments to ensure disclosure of stocks by various entities like traders, dealers, importers, millers, stockists, and big chain retailers under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, through online stock disclosure portal. Powers to control hoarding under these Act have been delegated to States/ UTs. State/UT Governments are sensitized, from time to time, to take appropriate action against hoarding and enforce the Act, effectively. The State Governments/ UT administrations have not reported any incidences large scale hoarding or black marketing of essential commodities(c) : Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) under National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 is operated under the joint responsibility of the Central and the State Government and Union Territory (UT) Administrations. The operational responsibilities for allocation of foodgrains within the States/ UTs, identification of eligible beneficiaries, issuance of ration cards to them, distribution of foodgrains to eligible beneficiaries under TPDS, issuance of license to Fair Price Shop dealers, supervision over and monitoring of functioning of FPSs etc. rest with the concerned State Government/UT Administration. Accordingly, as and when any type of complaints/ grievances related to TPDS are received by the Department of Food and Public distribution from any source, they are forwarded to concerned State Government/UT Administration for inquiry and appropriate action. Further, no specific complaint cases related to leakages or diversion of subsidized food grains have been received. (d) : The following corrective measures have been implemented to ensure that PDS reaches intended beneficiaries efficiently: i. Ration cards/beneficiary’s database have been completely digitized (100%) in all States/UTs. 99.9% of ration cards have been Aadhar seeded. ii. The transparency portal and online grievance redressal facility/Toll-free number have been implemented in all States/UTs. iii. Online allocation has been implemented in all States/UTs and supply chain has been computerized in 31 States/UTs (except UTs of Chandigarh, Puducherry and Urban area of Dadra & Nagar Haveli which have adopted DBT Cash Transfer scheme). iv. The nationwide portability of ration cards, popularly known as One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) has been implemented in all 36 States/UTs, covering all Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) beneficiaries. v. Nearly 5.50 Lakh (99.8%) out of total 5.51 Lakh Fair Price Shops (FPSs) in the country have been automated by installing e-PoS devices for the distribution of foodgrains through Aadhaar biometric authentication of beneficiaries. *****