Union minister Piyush Goyal stated on Tuesday that the Centre's refusal to supply rice to several states from its stocks is intended to ensure that the price of the grain does not rise in the open market and people continue to be able to obtain it at reasonable prices.
This statement came amid a political controversy after Karnataka accused the Centre of refusing to sell rice from central reserves.
When asked about protests in Karnataka over the supply of rice, the Union minister for consumer affairs, food, and public distribution told reporters at the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters that a committee of secretaries had decided that the stock of rice at central reserves be kept to "serve 140 crore people of the country" and states could buy the rice from the market if they needed.
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Heated up demonstrations by both the governing Congress and the opposition BJP in different parts of the state as the politics were observed on Tuesday around the delivery of rice to Karnataka.
In response to allegations that the Centre had withheld rice from the Karnataka government's Anna Bhagya plan, the Congress organised protests in each district headquarters of the state.
The former chief minister of Karnataka Basavaraj Bommai was detained recently along with several other BJP leaders for holding protests against the state government for not providing 10 kg rice to each member of the below-poverty level families as promised by Congress.
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The Open Market Sale Scheme of providing states with rice and wheat was discontinued by the Union government recently.
