MDM scheme: Dal procurement thru tender will hit SHGs hard

Newindpress.com,Jan 22,2008

BHUBANESWAR: The avowed objective of launching Mission Shakti nearly eight years ago was economic empowerment of the rural poor women. Intervention of women self-help groups in dal supply under mid-day meal scheme is a step in the right direction.The Women and Child Development Department is reportedly contemplating to issue a circular to the district collectors to procure dal through tender route. If this is done, not only the women selfhelp groups (WSHGs) but the farmers will be hit hard. The traders who are very unhappy with the WSHGs’ intervention are reportedly lobbying hard to get back the business.The approximate annual requirement of dal under mid-day meal (MDM) scheme is about 2.4 lakh quintal of which only 20,000 quintal is supplied by SHGs. The average benefit to the SHG per quintal of kandul dal supplied to the Government will be Rs 600 to 700.Besides, the farmers are assured of a good remunerative price as the Government has fixed the procurement price of kandul dal at Rs 35 a kg from Rs 26.75 per kg fixed last year.Kandul dal is mostly cultivated in the undivided Koraput, Kalahandi, Gajapati and Kandhamal districts and this is a major cash crop of the tribals as part of their shifting cultivation.The undivided Koraput and Kalahandi districts have the capacity to procure 40,000 quintals of kandul dal, but working capital is the major constraint for the SHGs.While the Government has no provision to extend financial support to SHGs for dal procurement, none of the commercial banks is willing to provide credit, official sources said and suggested that the Government should create a revolving fund for the purpose.In case of procurement of 40,000 quintals of kandul dal, the direct benefit to the SHGs involved in dal processing is a cool Rs 2 crore, the average profit per quintal being Rs 500, said the Government officer.Though the SHGs have been supplying dal to MDM for the last three years, some of the district collectors are not supporting them. The Kalahandi Collector is reportedly not lifting the dal supplied by the SHGs.