Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

Template:Short description Template:Use Indian English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Indian English Template:Template other 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.

The department is responsible for:

• 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.

Institutes

1. National Sugar Institute, Kanpur

Related Agencies

1. Central Consumer Protection Authority

Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) under the Ministry

1. National Cooperative Consumer's Federation of India Ltd.

Ministers

Food & Agriculture (1947–71)

#	Portrait	Name	Term of office			Prime Minister	Party
1	File:Rajendra Prasad 1947.jpg	Rajendra Prasad	15 August 1947	14 January 1948	Template:Ayd	Jawaharlal Nehru	Indian National Congress	bgcolor="Template:Party color" rowspan=10|
2	File:Jairamdas Daulatram 1985 stamp of India.jpg	Jairamdas Daulatram	19 January 1948	13 May 1950	Template:Ayd
3	File:K M Munshi.jpg	K M Munshi	13 May 1950	13 May 1952	Template:Ayd
4	File:Rafi Ahmed Kidwai 1969 stamp of India.jpg	Rafi Ahmed Kidwai	13 May 1952	24 October 1954	Template:Ayd
5		Ajit Prasad Jain	25 November 1954	24 August 1959	Template:Ayd
6	File:Miss India Indrani Rehman, S.K. Patil, and two of the sponsors of the contest (cropped).jpg	S. K. Patil	24 August 1959	1 September 1963	Template:Ayd
7		Swaran Singh	1 September 1963	9 June 1964	Template:Ayd
8	File:Chidambaram Subramaniam.jpg	Chidambaram Subramaniam	9 June 1964	12 March 1967	Template:Ayd	Lal Bahadur Shastri Indira Gandhi
9	File:Jagjivan Ram 1991 stamp of India.jpg	Jagjivan Ram	13 March 1967	27 June 1970	Template:Ayd	Indira Gandhi
10	File:Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed 1977 stamp of India.jpg	Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed	27 June 1970	2 May 1971	Template:Ayd
Ministry of Food was renamed as Ministry of Agriculture with four departments, including the Department of Food

Food & Civil Supplies (1983–91)

#	Portrait	Name	Term of office			Prime Minister	Party
11	File:Bhagwat Jha Azad.jpg	Bhagwat Jha Azad	14 February 1983	31 December 1984	Template:Ayd	Indira Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi	Indian National Congress	bgcolor="Template:Party color" rowspan=6|
12	File:Birender Singh b1921 2023 stamp of India.jpg	Rao Birendra Singh	31 December 1984	25 September 1985	Template:Ayd	Rajiv Gandhi
13		Kamakhya Prasad Singh Deo	25 September 1985	27 January 1986	Template:Ayd
14		P. Shiv Shankar	27 January 1986	12 May 1986	Template:Ayd
15		H. K. L. Bhagat	12 May 1986	14 February 1988	Template:Ayd
16		Sukh Ram	14 February 1988	2 December 1989	Template:Ayd
17		Nathuram Mirdha	8 December 1989	10 November 1990	Template:Ayd	V. P. Singh	Janata Dal	bgcolor="Template:Party color" |
(12)	File:Birender Singh b1921 2023 stamp of India.jpg	Rao Birendra Singh	21 November 1990	21 June 1991	Template:Ayd	Chandra Shekhar	Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)	bgcolor="Template:Party color" |

Food (1991–96)

#	Portrait	Name	Term of office			Prime Minister	Party
1		Kalpnath Rai	18 January 1993	21 December 1994	Template:Ayd	P. V. Narasimha Rao	Indian National Congress	bgcolor="Template:Party color" rowspan="3" |
2	File:Visit of Narasimha Rao, Indian Minister for Foreign Affairs, to the CEC (cropped).jpg	P. V. Narasimha Rao	21 December 1994	10 February 1995	Template:Ayd
3	File:Ajit Singh at press conference.jpg	Ajit Singh	10 February 1995	16 May 1996	Template:Ayd

Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution (1991–96)

#	Portrait	Name	Term of office			Prime Minister	Party
1	File:Visit of Narasimha Rao, Indian Minister for Foreign Affairs, to the CEC (cropped).jpg	P. V. Narasimha Rao	21 June 1991	18 January 1993	Template:Ayd	P. V. Narasimha Rao	Indian National Congress	bgcolor="Template:Party color" rowspan="3" |
2	File:AK Antony at Ponnani.jpg	A. K. Antony	18 January 1993	8 February 1995	Template:Ayd
3	File:Buta Singh (headshot).jpg	Buta Singh	10 February 1995	16 May 1996	Template:Ayd

Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution (1996–present)

#	Portrait	Name	Term of office			Prime Minister	Party
1	File:Atal Bihari Vajpayee tribute image (cropped).jpg	Atal Bihari Vajpayee	16 May 1996	1 June 1996	Template:Ayd	Atal Bihari Vajpayee	Bharatiya Janata Party	bgcolor="Template:Party color" |
2		Devendra Prasad Yadav	1 June 1996	21 April 1997	Template:Ayd	Deve Gowda	Janata Dal	rowspan="2" bgcolor="Template:Party color" |
3	File:Inder Kumar Gujral 017.jpg	Inder Kumar Gujral	21 April 1997	24 April 1997	Template:Ayd	I.K. Gujral
4		Chaturanan Mishra	24 April 1997	10 January 1998	Template:Ayd		Communist Party of India	bgcolor="Template:Party color" |
5	File:Balwant Singh Ramoowalia.jpg	Balwant Singh Ramoowalia	10 January 1998	19 March 1998	Template:Ayd		Independent	bgcolor="Template:Party color" |
6	File:The Vice President, Shri Mohd. Hamid Ansari with the Governor of Tamil Nadu, Shri Surjit Singh Barnala and the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Dr. Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi (cropped) (Surjit Singh Barnala).png	Surjit Singh Barnala	19 March 1998	13 October 1999	Template:Ayd	Atal Bihari Vajpayee	Shiromani Akali Dal	bgcolor="Template:Party color" |
7	File:Shanta Kumar.jpg	Shanta Kumar	13 October 1999	1 July 2002	Template:Ayd		Bharatiya Janata Party	bgcolor="Template:Party color" |
8	File:Sharadyadavjdu.jpg	Sharad Yadav	1 July 2002	22 May 2004	Template:Ayd		Janata Dal (United)	bgcolor="Template:Party color" |
9	File:Sharad Pawar.jpg	Sharad Pawar	22 May 2004	19 January 2011	Template:Ayd	Manmohan Singh	Nationalist Congress Party	bgcolor="Template:Party color" |
10	File:KV Thomas.jpg	K. V. Thomas	19 January 2011	26 May 2014	Template:Ayd		Indian National Congress	bgcolor="Template:Party color" |
11	File:Ram Vilas Paswan 11 (cropped).jpg	Ram Vilas Paswan	26 May 2014	8 October 2020	Template:Ayd	Narendra Modi	Lok Janshakti Party	bgcolor="Template:Party color" |
12	File:Piyush Goyal.jpg	Piyush Goyal	8 October 2020	10 June 2024	Template:Ayd		Bharatiya Janata Party	rowspan=2 bgcolor="Template:Party color" |
13	File:Prahlad Joshi (cropped).jpg	Pralhad Joshi	10 June 2024	Incumbent	Template:Ayd

See also

• Department of Co-operation, Food and Consumer Protection (Tamil Nadu)
• Ministry of Co-operation

References

Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution